I find it fascinating that Apple has managed to capture the zeitgeist of our age and intuit our desires for computers and devices. And yet, in a review of the iPad, Time Magazine reveals that, “(o)ne of the things that makes Apple unique is that it never holds focus groups. It doesn’t ask people what they want; it tells them what they’re going to want next.”
So how does Apple know what customers will want? And what lessons can mere mortal companies learn from Apple’s product development process?
A few years ago, the MatrixMaxx team at Matrix Group was developing the product road map for the coming year. A couple of us were arguing for a total redo of the system’s user interface. We also advocated a lot of new reports that basically repackaged data already available through exports. The rest of the team argued that clients weren’t asking for these enhancements and it would be risky and a lot of time for little benefit to move forward with such a radical overhaul of our association management software.
After a lot of bargaining re: scope and timeline, the entire MatrixMaxx team agreed to a redesign of the system’s user interface and a new export/report framework. The effort ended up behind schedule and it introduced a lot of bugs into the system. And yet, when the dust finally settled and we got the bugs under control, the end result was fabulous and clients loved it. The new interface makes it much easier to find information and gave the product a new vibrancy. The export framework has been universally applauded by clients.
In the end, we learned that sometimes, despite all the customer interviews that we conduct, clients can’t tell us what they want because they can’t even imagine it. It’s up to us, the product developers, to learn as much as we can about our clients’ needs and wants and literally make stuff up. Don’t get me wrong, once we make a decision to move in a certain direction, we get client feedback and buy-in, but it isn’t always client requests that drive the major decisions.
Today, some releases are dominated by client-requested enhancements, while others are packed with features that we have determined in-house will be fundamentally good for the product. Some staff-sponsored features are a hit, while others turn out to be duds. It’s the risk we take, it’s the risk we must take.
How about you? What’s your take on Apple’s iPad strategy? Do you have yours yet? Or is the iPad a gadget you’ve decided you can live without?
