Did you ever hear a parent say, “My little Johnny is the best pitcher on his team…I don’t know why the coach doesn’t play him!”

As product managers, we can fall prey to the same unintentional error.  We think it matters what WE think.  We believe that our system really needs feature X because our sales folks heard a handful of large customers mention it. So, we have the product development team build feature X based on that input.  However, it may turn out that there is very little actual client interest in X once it is finally implemented.

As product managers, we see our systems every day, watch them progress over time, and sometimes wind up interacting with the same set of clients who like our software just as much as we do.  Unfortunately, we don’t often hear enough from a broader sample of the folks such as:

•    Potential customers who do not use the system  
•    Current customers with whom you don’t have regular contact
•    “Lost” customers who just selected your competitor’s system over your own.

In most businesses, it is hard to find great ideas exclusively within the four walls of your own building. Good software product managers need to obtain the sort of perspective that Johnny’s mother lacks. If we fail to do so, we may miss the mark on where our energies should be focused.  

To help us avoid this myopia, please be sure to let us know what features and options you would like us to add to pan systems. In future postings, I will also describe our product development roadmap so you have a sense as to where we are going over the next several months and years.

Jared Owens