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This is great for a startup but can be depressing for long term consulting. I've had the unfortunate experience of building a product for someone else where th

This is great for a startup but can be depressing for long term consulting. I've had the unfortunate experience of building a product for someone else where the process was driven by a combination of Complain-Driven Development and Upper-Management Wish-lists. This alone might have been fine but at the same time anything positive like the real analytics about how successful the product was or any non-complaint communication coming from the users was hidden from me for fear, I suppose, that I might try to use that information get my company more money. This became incredibly depressing. Everyday you show up to work putting in more and more hours into something that comes back with more and more complaints. It was hell and I did everything I could to end Complaint-Driven Development to no avail because thats how the customer liked to work. Eventually I finally just gave up and left to find something more rewarding and less soul crushing.

pointernil 13y ago
"Software auf Zuruf" ;)
codinghorror 13y ago
It also depends what stage you are at. This article is about early stage products that are very new. If you're looking at a mature product that has been on the market for 10+ years, it's likely (I hope!) that most of the major obvious pain / complaint points have already been addressed. I don't think CDD would be as useful in that scenario -- you want a different model.
Mz 13y ago
I am still trying to work out how to get useful feedback at all. Due to a fairly unique situation, people divide up between those folks who tell I am awesome (with zero useful feedback as to why) and folks who want my head on a pike) and zero useful feedback as to why). So far, backing away from the crowds of folks who want my head on a pike is the only constructive answer I have come up with, which leaves me more and more and isolated. I remain frustrated as to how to resolve this issue. I need skeptical feedback, not hatred and not idolatry. Neither of those is productive for anyone. So, yes, there can be big problems with this, depending in part on the problem space you are addressing, I think.
illuminate 13y ago
"This became incredibly depressing. Everyday you show up to work putting in more and more hours into something that comes back with more and more complaints. It was hell and I did everything I could to end Complaint-Driven Development to no avail because thats how the customer liked to work. Eventually I finally just gave up and left to find something more rewarding and less soul crushing" My current gig is very customer-driven and we hire a number of PMs to handle and incorporate the feedback. Our customers love us because the alternative is a particularly stodgy, poorly performing and relatively unchanging product. With end-users, yes. The flood of complaints and the complaints about the fixes for the complaints and on and on can be soulcrushing. Finding a niche who loves you and your product is hopefully possible.

pointernil 13y ago

"Software auf Zuruf" ;)

codinghorror 13y ago

It also depends what stage you are at. This article is about early stage products that are very new. If you're looking at a mature product that has been on the market for 10+ years, it's likely (I hope!) that most of the major obvious pain / complaint points have already been addressed. I don't think CDD would be as useful in that scenario -- you want a different model.

Mz 13y ago

I am still trying to work out how to get useful feedback at all. Due to a fairly unique situation, people divide up between those folks who tell I am awesome (with zero useful feedback as to why) and folks who want my head on a pike) and zero useful feedback as to why). So far, backing away from the crowds of folks who want my head on a pike is the only constructive answer I have come up with, which leaves me more and more and isolated. I remain frustrated as to how to resolve this issue. I need skeptical feedback, not hatred and not idolatry. Neither of those is productive for anyone. So, yes, there can be big problems with this, depending in part on the problem space you are addressing, I think.

illuminate 13y ago

"This became incredibly depressing. Everyday you show up to work putting in more and more hours into something that comes back with more and more complaints. It was hell and I did everything I could to end Complaint-Driven Development to no avail because thats how the customer liked to work. Eventually I finally just gave up and left to find something more rewarding and less soul crushing" My current gig is very customer-driven and we hire a number of PMs to handle and incorporate the feedback. Our customers love us because the alternative is a particularly stodgy, poorly performing and relatively unchanging product. With end-users, yes. The flood of complaints and the complaints about the fixes for the complaints and on and on can be soulcrushing. Finding a niche who loves you and your product is hopefully possible.