3 ms·

Another point I'd add/emphasize is: don't treat engineers as stupid. This includes downplaying complexity and the amount of work involved, but also not being se

by nzmsv 17y ago

Another point I'd add/emphasize is: don't treat engineers as stupid. This includes downplaying complexity and the amount of work involved, but also not being serious about the business side of things. The worst thing to say is "Just build it, and let me worry about selling it", or "Everyone will be excited about this, trust me". To an engineer this just sounds like you haven't done any actual work yet, besides thinking of the idea, and you are unlikely to do anything, ever. If you expect a coder to build something for you, have a plan of work that you will contribute (even though it will change). Also: "Anyone who hasn't spent a whole night awake writing blog posts, calling Japanese leads and obsessing over traffic numbers will probably view the product as the most important thing in the enterprise." Should it be "will probably not view the product..."? And what about partnerships a being bad thing to mention? This would be helpful to me too, to know more about what to watch for :)

deleted 17y ago
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notauser 17y ago
Thanks! Good idea. I have heard both of those things before and it put me off pretty badly. WRT partnerships... They often take forever to sign up, even longer to integrate, and frequently don't produce any results because one partner backs out. For every successful partnership (erm...) I can quote you three partnership development projects from my own experience that bombed without seeing the light of day. Maybe I'm just scarred by some bad experiences :-)
ionfish 17y ago
> Should it be "will probably not view the product..."? I don't think so; the idea that the author is attempting to convey is that people who haven't spent a lot of time working on the parts of a business that aren't building the product won't realise how important those other things are. Admittedly it could have been explained a lot more clearly—I had to go back and read that sentence over too.
- nzmsv 17y ago
  Ahh, I get it now :) I thought the sentence was about why this specific product is the most important out all products out there. And it's actually comparing the product to other things involved in making it, like markering and customer support.
- notauser 17y ago
  Thanks for picking that up, rewritten to hopefully be easier to parse.

by nzmsv 17y ago

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

notauser 17y ago

Thanks! Good idea. I have heard both of those things before and it put me off pretty badly. WRT partnerships... They often take forever to sign up, even longer to integrate, and frequently don't produce any results because one partner backs out. For every successful partnership (erm...) I can quote you three partnership development projects from my own experience that bombed without seeing the light of day. Maybe I'm just scarred by some bad experiences :-)

ionfish 17y ago

> Should it be "will probably not view the product..."? I don't think so; the idea that the author is attempting to convey is that people who haven't spent a lot of time working on the parts of a business that aren't building the product won't realise how important those other things are. Admittedly it could have been explained a lot more clearly—I had to go back and read that sentence over too.

nzmsv 17y ago
Ahh, I get it now :) I thought the sentence was about why this specific product is the most important out all products out there. And it's actually comparing the product to other things involved in making it, like markering and customer support.
notauser 17y ago
Thanks for picking that up, rewritten to hopefully be easier to parse.