Comments on: When a website becomes too popular

By: Trunks

Trunks — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:09:41 +0000

doing a/b tests are good. but that’s only possible if we have something to test on. in most cases, i would think most organizations are struggling to get a consensus on that ‘something’.

By: Joe Ang

Joe Ang — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 09:45:53 +0000

Pointing out successes that puts the Users first helps to build a case. But this won’t work if the boss already knows, but chose to ignore it due to other reasons.

The most common not-in-the-best-interest-of-Users alarm is ironically, agreement from the boss. E.g “Yes it’s a great idea. I sure would love to use it. But I can’t see how we can monetize this”.

In fact, if a boss can explain his logical reasons why something isn’t in the best interest of the User, the staff should at least be receptive.

I think the conflicts usually occur because of the difference in criteria used.

By: Scott Poh

Scott Poh — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 08:27:36 +0000

For a project manager, his job depends on his performance in front of the “boss”. Long term benefits may be too far for him to consider.

To answer your question, we can propose running experiments (e.g. using Google Website Optimizer) to get statistical support. Of course, it’s additional work :)

By: Trunks

Trunks — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 07:54:13 +0000

Scott’s response definitely hits the nail on the spot. We frequently see this scenario happening again and again where the final approval has to come from no one but the bosses.

But I also like to throw a question back by playing the devil’s advocate.

If today you are an internal project manager handling the development of a particular website, what would you do to improve the situation? what and how would your actions be to
1) convince your bosses that it’s the users that matters
2) convince your bosses that whatever their opinions may not be representative of the target users?
3) verify and convince which of your bosses opinions are ‘true’ to that of the target users and which are not? To bring it further, how would you even know if your own opinions are ‘true’?

By: Joe Ang

Joe Ang — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 07:47:23 +0000

What customers want – Apple App Store. What bosses want, after realizing the competition just blindsided them – Nokia Ovi.

By: Scott Poh

Scott Poh — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 02:06:20 +0000

Websites with huge growth offer what their customers – the users – want. Websites developed by corporates usually have the wrong customers – the bosses.

By: Nick @ Brick Marketing

Nick @ Brick Marketing — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:35:33 +0000

Some of the biggest social websites on the internet never anticipated their growth spurt. It just sort of happened. The websites that pour in great deals of money with tight deadlines usually don’t even come close.

By: Joe Ang

Joe Ang — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 03:46:07 +0000

Project teams or vendors are typically so pressed to roll out VISIBLE and FUNCTIONAL software by a certain date that it not practical to factor in scalability.

For an internal team, why worry about a POTENTIAL future problem when the current visible work is already pushing the limits?

For a vendor, why prematurely think about a problem that may arise long after I’ve been paid and moved on?

Similar to personal insurance, only by actively appropriating money and/or time to “prematurely” plan for scalability can a business owner protect his investments over a longer term.