Spolsky: Setting the Right Priorities
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Re: Spolsky: Setting the Right Priorities
#2A lot of software developers have critical priority inversion, focusing on initiatives which will almost never add value. Without specific reference to where Fogbugz was back in the day, I think a lot of software developers often prioritize improving the product when that should not be #1 on their list with where their business is right now.
In particular, if you have a working product which is salable, and you have a website which is getting 5 visitors a day, put down the IDE and start marketing. Better mousetraps do not automatically collect more mice -- you need to locate the mice, preferably a bunch of ones which enjoy eating whatever your bait is, and then put the mousetrap by them.
(There are circumstances in which development supports marketing -- working on your viral loop for certain species of web apps, or adding something which greatly improves your perceived value in your target market. Don't spend three months to add another bullet point to a web page nobody reads, though.)
Re: Spolsky: Setting the Right Priorities
#3The date of the article is sep 1, 2009.
That's 6 days from now.
Re: Spolsky: Setting the Right Priorities
#4The date of the article is sep 1, 2009. That's 6 days from now.
I'd say that's the publish date for the print article. Don't you just love old media ;-)
Re: Spolsky: Setting the Right Priorities
#5A lot of software developers have critical priority inversion, focusing on initiatives which will almost never add value. Without specific reference to where Fogbugz was back in the day, I think a lot of software developers often prioritize improving the product when that should not be #1 on their list with where their business is right now. In particular, if you have a working product which is salable, and you have…
It's not that easy. If you do marketing and other "business" type stuff, your body will demand some sanity and just good ole programming. I can completely understand people being "sidetracked" implementing novelty code they will never need. They're not wasting time, they're recharging their batteries: sometimes you just want to work on something tangible, verifiable, and get a quick satisfaction fix seeing it working.
Lately, most of my work is CSS, input validation, architecturing URLs, and reading as many web design "top 20" blog posts shopping for UI elements. Pathetic. However, between doing that, I have also written a completely unnecessary server-farm management package for my site, completely with load-balancing, health monitoring, backup, change propagation, hot configuration and other stuff I probably would never need (let's just say that if I ever needed it, I would also need a physical server rack.)
Re: Spolsky: Setting the Right Priorities
#6Interesting article! In hindsight everything is distorted and seems so natural, however, it doesn't teach you much about the _current_ reality -- how can you tell if your company is suffering from a product or marketing problem _right now_?
Re: Spolsky: Setting the Right Priorities
#7A lot of software developers have critical priority inversion, focusing on initiatives which will almost never add value. Without specific reference to where Fogbugz was back in the day, I think a lot of software developers often prioritize improving the product when that should not be #1 on their list with where their business is right now. In particular, if you have a working product which is salable, and you have…
Of course, you have to do some marketing. But I think that if you're investing time in marketing to be able to survive, then you're doing something wrong ... you either chose the wrong market, or your product is not good enough.
From my experience, improving your product (which is not equal to adding more features) is the best way to get new customers. That's because marketing that's not properly targeted is as good as no marketing, and let's face it ... technically inclined people suck at it. Even Spolsky, which is what I call a marketing drone, in his interview on "Founders at Work" confessed that they got more customers from incremental improvements than through marketing plots.
On the contrary, I think the main problem of software developers is that we rarely finish what we start.
Re: Spolsky: Setting the Right Priorities
#8It's a good article, and the main point is an important one.
That being said: am I the only one who finds it quizzical that Joel ever became such a notable pundit in the first place, in light of all of the articles outlining his (past) clueless behavior?
Re: Spolsky: Setting the Right Priorities
#9A lot of software developers have critical priority inversion, focusing on initiatives which will almost never add value. Without specific reference to where Fogbugz was back in the day, I think a lot of software developers often prioritize improving the product when that should not be #1 on their list with where their business is right now. In particular, if you have a working product which is salable, and you have…
Of course, you have to do some marketing. But I think that if you're investing time in marketing to be able to survive, then you're doing something wrong ... you either chose the wrong market, or your product is not good enough. From my experience, improving your product (which is not equal to adding more features) is the best way to get new customers. That's because marketing that's not properly targeted is as good…
Marketing is an engineering process. Technically inclined people do not have to suck at it. To the extent that many do, it is largely because they've been taught to undervalue its importance, treat it as an afterthought, and dismiss properly conducted marketing as something which is for weak and stupid people.
Re: Spolsky: Setting the Right Priorities
#10When I read Joel's articles I know I enjoy them, I know they're interesting and I learn from them but also that I'm reading marketing for his products and brand - its win-win and I subscribe to his marketing output along with everything else he publishes willingly.
I'd like to read about the impact "Joel on Software" and his celebrity has had on his success/sales though.
Its almost like you read the article and he discusses "this made my company successful", "this was a mistake of mine" but talking about his blog and celebrity is seemingly off limits, to a layman like me its a huge factor in the appeal of his products but it goes unsaid in his articles - as though it had no impact.
I wonder if there's a worry openly discussing the marketing benefit to Joel of us reading his articles would be almost breaking down a wall and change our perception of them.
Or am I wrong, has Joel (and/or Jeff Atwood) discussed openly the difference their blog-marketing has made to their business success?