Can You Hear Me Now


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Session Notes:

 

Can You Hear Me Now?
Catherine Connor, Rally, PdM / PO, Boulder, Colo, Catherine@rallydev.com
       was sales engineer at Rational, Evangelist for RequisitePro at Rational, P.O. at Borland

Ideation
       UserVoice: short-term use: PCamp
       long-term use: Rally, BrightIdea
       Verizon, Dell, Starbucks have sites up to hear from users

ask users to input ideas, give them oppty to get status, just to know you're reading them

Rally Idea Manager (Oct '10 - March '12)
       crowd-sourcing
       log in, see all users' ideas, vote on them

2 sites
       one for 15-20 strategic customers
       one for the rest
some companies also have an internal site for sales and support to enter ideas
       Rally uses SalesForce

plusses for Rally
       central place for users' ideas
       feature design input
       "vocal customers with unique needs"
       "why" behind feature requests
       "voice of the customer" to development
       business value quantification - 259 votes for top idea

plusses for users
       access to PdMs for all users
       stay informed on product plans, what's coming, which ideas are being implemented
       communicate w peers - learn tips, workarounds, limitations - but not as much as hoped for - it is about building a community

challenges
       cost: administration overhead
       SMEs coaching
       users enter dupe ideas - "suggestion box" syndrome
       managing duplicate ideas
       marketing the site

6-month roadmap
       11.56% of ideas have been released

fears of adoption
       # of ideas / tip: categorization
       what if product plans change? tip: users value transparency over missed commitments
       users will expect all ideas to be implemented / tip: clearly state the site goal
       we will have to implement the top voted ideas / tip: be transparent why a top voted idea is not a 'go'

tips
       clearly communicate the site goal: internally, externally
       define the site scope: one site per product or many products in one site, reasonable # of idea categories
       allocate adequate resources to keep site active: site owner (1/2 FTE), SMEs (4 days/mo)
       clearly communicate "rules of engagement" to SMEs: be honest, keep dialog open ("working on this after that")