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When it comes to software - The Customer. Plain and simple. It’s funny how many people don’t get that. Or don’t want to get that for some reason. I’ve been in the business of building applications for 16 years, 10 of those dedicated to web applications, and it is by far the most common mistake that individuals and companies make.

I’m not sure why this happens. Maybe product managers get too caught up in the projects they are working, and what they perceive the benefit or value to them to be that they don’t worry about the customer perception of value? Perhaps product groups forget that the value customers receive isn’t in the individuality of the new features they are working on, but the holistic business benefit their application provides? Maybe companies with a history of success think they are so good at delivering value to their customer’s they don’t need to pay attention to it?

There are a lot of ways that this mistake manifests itself. Incorrect pricing, missing or poorly positioned features, etc. Have you ever used a product where they incrementally charge for a piece of functionality that is really a prerequisite for the application to meet the requirements of the business problem it is solving? Or a product that incrementally charges for functionality that is freely available via open source or common applications like MS Office? I know I have (I will leave out the names of the guilty - don’t want to get accused of mudslinging), and it has motivated me to move on to other products.

So if you’re developing a software application, do your customers a favor. Stop, step back, look at the application as a whole, and how it meets the needs of your customers. And more importantly, talk to your customers and make sure they agree.

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