First on market (was RE: radical revamping of techpubs)

[Technical Writer]

Many, especially in business, would argue the opposite; the first mover advantage is huge. Case in point, the business strategy of Sony. 
 
The philosophy of "lifers"--build a widget, establish a broad base of loyal, satisfied customers, grow the organization organically is about as obsolete as "Live long and prosper." Ask any small business owner in a location adjacent to Wal-Mart about customer loyalty and branding. Or ask anyone who worked in the Oldsmobile division of GM.
 
 
> Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 09:30:49 -0700> To: gflato at nanometrics.com; tekwrytr at hotmail.com; framers at lists.frameusers.com> From: john at hedtke.com> Subject: First on market (was RE: radical revamping of techpubs)> > Despite the incredible pressure that people feel to be the first on > the market with the latest release, I think history shows that it is > almost NEVER the first product to market that has long-term success, > at least in high-tech. The IBM PC was not the first to market by a > number of years. Microsoft hasn't ever gotten there first with > anything that comes to mind. VisiCalc. WordStar. Doc-to-Help was, > I think, on the market before Robohelp, yet they got outmarketed > ultimately. VHS vs. Beta: Beta was, and is, a better overall format > but VHS outmarketed Beta and >poof< no more Beta. And so on. It > could be argued that what tends to work is the products that watched > what the first product did and then didn't make the same mistakes or > at least capitalized on marketing. There are exceptions to > this--Visio comes to mind--where something is so truly innovative as > to be unique, but these are rare and stellar examples. For the most > part, the first product to cross the finish line is guaranteed to > ~not~ survive the test of time.> > Even on a short-term basis, pushing a product out the door to meet an > arbitrary schedule gets you what you deserve. Who here is fool > enough to install the .0 version of anything from, say, Microsoft or > Adobe? And who, having done that, got away with it with their > computing skin intact? Robert Cringely was nice enough to quote me > in his column a couple months ago: "At Microsoft, quality is job > SP1," but this is an aphorism you could apply to a lot of companies, > not just the folks in Redmond. They all feel the same pressures and > make the same mistakes.> > If I knew that a company was actively taking a few extra months to > plan things and deliver me a bug-free product, I'd be very impressed > and would consider that heavily when shopping for something.> > > Yours truly,> > John Hedtke> Author/Consultant/Contract Writer> www.hedtke.com <-- website> 541-685-5000 (office landline)> 541-554-2189 (cell)> john at hedtke.com (primary email)> johnhedtke at aol.com (secondary email) > 
_________________________________________________________________
Windows Live Hotmail and Microsoft Office Outlook – together at last.  Get it now.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102225181033.aspx?pid=CL100626971033