“One More Thing…”
An OH:
When you make your users feel like this, you’re doing it wrong.
When you’re driving your users toward something they don’t want such that they just go grab the “original” version of what they don’t want, you’re doing it wrong.
And when you’re telling your users they’re wrong for wanting what they want, you’re doing it wrong.
I think that sums it up perfectly1.
I can’t help but wonder if this new tide of product management methodology is a reaction to Apple’s focus on product design in general and Steve Jobs’ reputation for making those product decisions in specific, and the success it has brought AAPL.
Problem is: Steve Jobses are rare2 and Apple spent decades surrounding itself with customers who are interested in joining the Church of Steve3.
The saying used to go “The customer is always right.” With millions of users, obviously it would be difficult to provide the exact product or service that every customer wants.
At this point, I’d settle for merely moving away from “The customer is too stupid to even have a comprehension of what they want, so we don’t even have to listen to them anymore.”
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1 Mozilla is the example du jour, but is certainly not alone
2 Duh, but apparently this needs to be said
3 And the Cult of Mac
I’m a non-techie that gets infuriated when some monolithic company forces me to change my way of doing business. Google Docs is an excellent example. I used to be able to access their old format through a specific url, but they now block it. I don’t want to use their new format as it has a stinky spell checker. As a writer, that’s one of the most important features.
I’m a Mac fan because I don’t have to deal with all the problem inherent with PCs, where Billy Boy forces me into his mold. I also like that spyware and malware, etc. aren’t problems.
Just blathering here, but you get the idea.
Somewhat ironically, due to their rise in popularity, Macs are now target for spyware and malware just as much as Windows PCs are—see Macs More Vulnerable Than Windows For Enterprise and Apple’s Unlikely Security Mentor: Microsoft—and the attack vectors these days are often “cross platform” vectors, i.e. Flash and web browsers.
I think what you’re actually saying is that you’re a Mac fan because you understand that Mac products are a vertically integrated stack, and that you are forcing yourself into Steve Jobs’ mold, whether you know it or not. (One of Jobs’ great magic tricks is pulling that off without most users knowing it or feeling like that.)
The problem comes in when companies and organizations who traditionally had cared about what their customers thought move to the “our customers are dumb, so they need us to tell them what they want”-model, and drag their existing, currently-happy customers, kicking and screaming.