With tens of thousands of e-mail server (IMail Server) and network management (WhatsUp Gold) customers, and millions for file transfer products (WS_FTP and MOVEit), we have always had an issue of how to set development priorities. We have no lack of suggestions; on the contrary, we receive so many requests, the challenge is to sort and prioritize them. In the past couple of years our internal processes for categorizing requests and making decisions have become more formal and effective, with the result that we're putting out more frequent releases of more value to our customers.

There are always ways to improve, though. I just read how Salesforce.com manages this, and am intrigued by their model. In 2005 they had 10,000 requests from customers, and no effective way to decide what to include in upcoming releases. Due to the volume, if they added all requested features, they'd never finish a release. If they only did some, they would risk missing ones that mattered the most. To address this problem, they created IdeaExchange, an application that lets customers suggest and vote on features. Suggestions that matter to many customers quickly rise to the top, making development priorities clear. Because of IdeaExchange, Salesforce is able to add features that matter, skip ones that don't, and satisfy more cusomers faster. A nice combination.

Posted by Roger Greene | Permalink
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