User>Driven - Commentshttp://www.userdriven.org/blog/User>Driven exists to promote the concept of user-driven development to the business communityCopyright 2006-7 by Bruce McCarthyen-USSquarespace Site Server v4.1.2 (http://www.squarespace.com/)Brandon comments on A more productive OutlookBrandonMon, 23 Jun 2008 13:21:11 +0000http://www.userdriven.org/blog/a-more-productive-outlook.html#comments63764:549283:comment/1575262im a fan of web based solutions. one good solution from this category is HyperOffice's<A HREF="http://www.hyperoffice.com/hypermain/Task_Manager.cfm">task manager. the good thing is that you can integrate and synch it with outlook tasks.

]]>David Locke comments on Another Reason Why Product Management Shouldn't Be Part of MarketingDavid LockeTue, 17 Jun 2008 18:12:44 +0000http://www.userdriven.org/blog/another-reason-why-product-management-shouldnt-be-part-of-ma.html#comments63764:549283:comment/1565941Developers don't listen to the market either. A company usually doesn't hire a product manager until after version 1.0 goes out the door.

Why did they spend two years developing a product before they started listening to the customer? Probably because they were living on investor money, instead of living on client money while bootstrapping.

]]>David Locke comments on What To Do When Your Developers Go AgileDavid LockeTue, 17 Jun 2008 18:04:10 +0000http://www.userdriven.org/blog/what-to-do-when-your-developers-go-agile.html#comments63764:549283:comment/1565924Minimal marketable functionality (MMFs) and value engineering play well with Agile. They present you with a means to deliver more value, and to learn faster. You might be surprised at differences between the amoung of value delivered when functionality is delivered in a different order.

You don't need to be Agile to do this financial engineering stuff, but shorter release cycles are necessary.

]]>David Locke comments on Booz Allen Confirms User>Driven Processes More Important than Big BudgetsDavid LockeTue, 17 Jun 2008 17:48:42 +0000http://www.userdriven.org/blog/booz-allen-confirms-userdriven-processes-more-important-than.html#comments63764:549283:comment/1565895Learning from customers means that you have less to teach them later. The amount of teaching you must do gets distributed into the marketing communications, sales process, and post sale support. It delays the time to return for the customer. It drives up the TCO, and the intrinsic costs of using the application. Teaching limits the value derived from the application. Teaching reduces the likelihood of upgrade sales, the locus of wealth creation in software startups.

Learning reduces a vendor's training and documentation costs, things to be minimized unless your company sees training and professional services as a profit centers. Learning reduces ambiguity and results in higher quality requirements.

Getting clients to pay for custom gigs, in which you build the client's visualization, provides you with a time to learn while someone else pays for it.

]]>David Locke comments on Don't Be Better than the CompetitionDavid LockeTue, 17 Jun 2008 17:39:27 +0000http://www.userdriven.org/blog/dont-be-better-than-the-competition.html#comments63764:549283:comment/1565873To focus on your competition is to lose focus on your customer. In the technology adoption lifecycle, there is only one market where the focus on your competitors is useful. Everywhere else it is a trap. You actually have to do it and once you're hooked, you have to quit.

Your competition will not be in the same place as you are in the market. So following your competitor might mean facing backwards.

If you are the market leader, lead. If you are the technology leader, lead there. If you are anyone else, follow the leader. The market leader defined the category, the necessary to play features and benefits.

The market leader will be following the customer with an eye towards consuming 50% of their market cap. Their market cap isn't yours. Yours might show up sooner than theirs. The market cap drives the need to lead the customer.

]]>Adam comments on LookOut Search Plug-in for OutlookAdamTue, 10 Jun 2008 20:57:54 +0000http://www.userdriven.org/blog/lookout-search-plug-in-for-outlook.html#comments63764:549283:comment/1553941For those having issues getting the toolbar to appear, make sure Outlook is really restarting when you close and reopen it. Often (for me at least), although it appears the program has closed, it's still runnning. You can look for Outlook.exe under Processes in the task manager to see if it's still runnning. I cannot recommend ending the outlook.exe process as it may have negative effects on the PST file. If anyone has any ideas on the possible issues caused by terminating the outlook.exe process please post.

]]>Mark Nichols comments on Don't Be Better than the CompetitionMark NicholsSun, 08 Jun 2008 03:25:16 +0000http://www.userdriven.org/blog/dont-be-better-than-the-competition.html#comments63764:549283:comment/1547125Recently I was at a piano competition with my fiancée, who is a professional piano teacher. The competition rules allow for no first place, or any place for that matter, to be awarded. It isn't a competition to beat the other participants but rather a competition against a standard. In effect, could they take their product (the piece being performed) to its potential?

I very much like the idea of working toward my potential and not just to beat the competition.

]]>Jeff Lash comments on Booz Allen Confirms User>Driven Processes More Important than Big BudgetsJeff LashTue, 27 May 2008 01:26:16 +0000http://www.userdriven.org/blog/booz-allen-confirms-userdriven-processes-more-important-than.html#comments63764:549283:comment/1522989It seems so basic, doesn't it, that innovative and profitable products can be created when companies pick their target market, determine the needs of the market, and figure out a way to solve those needs and make money. It's amazing at how often companies miss the mark.

The fine folks at Pragmatic Marketing have been focusing on this lately with their new Tuned In blog / book / webinar series / etc. They have a lot of great examples and stories that reinforce these principles.

Jeff Lash
Blog: How To Be A Good Product Manager

]]>Bruce McCarthy comments on LookOut Search Plug-in for OutlookBruce McCarthyTue, 13 May 2008 14:32:11 +0000http://www.userdriven.org/blog/lookout-search-plug-in-for-outlook.html#comments63764:549283:comment/1497910As posted above, check out www.belshe.com for postings on troubleshooting issues from the author of LookOut.

]]>Sarah Armstrong comments on LookOut Search Plug-in for OutlookSarah ArmstrongMon, 12 May 2008 15:36:43 +0000http://www.userdriven.org/blog/lookout-search-plug-in-for-outlook.html#comments63764:549283:comment/1494459I still cannot view the Lookout toolbar in Outlook. I went to View - Toolbars but did not see Lookout anywhere. Help!

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