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> People are too fixated, however, on how fast they get the software to market
> instead of whether it meets the customer's needs.
The company that I work for was recently acquired by another company and I
received a brief introduction to its features yesterday. The presenter
indicated that two of the features that are currently present in the software
were explicitly requested by customers and so were incorporated. While these
features seemed in theory to have utility, they are apparently not used by
customers once a purchase is made. Like most of us, customers may know want
they 'want', but not necessarily what they 'need'. Generally I come down on the
side of having considerable user input into the design process, but the instance
I cited gives me pause. Does anyone else have experience with features that are
specifically requested by customers, but rarely used once a purchase is made?
Features that are not essential to effective daily use, but are thought to
enhance both efficiency of users and usability of the product.
