Conference 7.286::digital

2844.0. "Dating shy people and Digital products" by PTOVAX::DANZAK (Pittsburgher �) Wed Jan 05 1994 20:42

    Getting to work effectively with Digital products is a lot like dating
    a very shy person.  It takes a very long time to get to know them. And
    eventually you get frustrated how long it took to get to know the
    person, in spite of the benefits, and have the feeling of "why didn't
    you tell me this earlier..." about very simple things about them. It
    can be a thoroughly frustrating experience...not at all rewarding.
    
    As the computer market has 'matured' and created 'commodity' demands
    for items, our 'uniqueness' of style and product set has lost value and
    just got too downright frustrating for people to deal with.  I'm not
    sure that we've come to understand that people really do want off the
    shelf and simple solutions - the technical elegance is a side issue.
    
    When I call an engineer or marketing person for information, very often
    they say that "I have to understand that...".  It happened twice today.
    (Two simple (basic) product feature were not stated in *ANY* documentation)
    
    That scares me to death.
    
    We don't realize that potential customer doesn't *have* to do anything for 
    Digital.  Nobody *has* to spend 1� on our products or one second of their 
    time understanding our products.
    
    *WE* have to make them want to spend their money on our products
    because we presented them so well.  
    
    Later, as they work with our product, they will understand that
    dedicated people built the best products in the industry for them.
    
    But we have to entice them to buy it first. We *have* to understand that in
    this market to survive!
    
    The next time that any of you folk in marketing or engineering respond
    to a field question - ask yourself:
      'Why didn't our pre-sales/marketing documentation answer this?'
      'How can I get it fixed - now, today, stat, fast, posthaste?'
    
    If every one of each of us xx,xxx thousand folks in the company fixed
    just *ONE* little communication/product issue....the worst that could
    happen is that we'd sell more.
    
    (Ok, so I'm dreaming...but y'all understand the point...)
    j
    

>    Getting to work effectively with Digital products is a lot like dating
>    a very shy person.  It takes a very long time to get to know them. And
>    eventually you get frustrated how long it took to get to know the
>    person, in spite of the benefits, and have the feeling of "why didn't
>    you tell me this earlier..." about very simple things about them. It
>    can be a thoroughly frustrating experience...not at all rewarding.

Just curious...have you been talking with my wife?

    
    I think part of the problem is that engineers are typically left to 
    figure out the product requirements for themselves. Left to their
    own devices, engineers will naturally do the best they can at building
    at building the best solution to a stated problem. When Digital has
    an engineering process in which requirements are defined formally,
    signed-off by sales and marketting, and when adherence to requirements
    shows up in the reviews of engineers and their managers, then sales
    and marketting will get what they ask for. Digital has the same kinds
    of engineers that other companies have, by and large. What we need is
    the same or better process.
    
    BL (engineer, ex-Pittsburgher)

    
    
    you must be talking about OSI (or MSU or MCC ......)
    
    takes a long time to know em and once you do, you realize that you hate
    em and wished you'd never taken the time...then you find out that no
    one else can stand em either but have been forced into their
    association....then..just when you think you are getting to know them
    enough to tolerate their presence, they die.  (and you start to wonder 
    about the power of wishful thinking...)