"Launch now, Fix Later"

[Leigh]

Most of the people don't like to launch something na "pwede-na", but some companies follow Microsoft that they launch something that is good and if problems come up, they just fix them in the process.

What can you say about this Microsoft way of doing things?

[NoisyCricket]

It depends on what kind of a product or service you are launching. :)

In the states, most of the companies we visited were no longer into the dotCom strategies, (which mainly provide a service rather than a Product) for the reason being that being a dotCom was no guarantee for success, especially since there was little or no barrier to competition. A very good example would be Portals. Anyone can swipe your ideas, improve on them, and launch them again. It's hard to patent a service like that.

Another example would be Barbershops (what am I talking about?? :lol: ) What you're really trying to establish is a Customer Connection rather than a pioneering service. While the product itself is replicable, the service is not.

But let's say that you DO have a unique product - one that is Top of the Line, the result of years of research and development -- people can't copy your exact specs without being SUED by your company first. We visited companies like ONI Systems which develops the hardware and software requirements to exponentially increase the throughput of bandwidth through a fiber optic network, providing speeds of higher than 10GB per sec :) You'd be hard pressed to develop that kind of technology overnight.

But to answer your question, do they launch a product first, then iron out the bugs later? I think it depends on their competition, too. If they are always in a hurry to always be ahead of their competition (Globe vs. Smart), then Smart will want to launch its GPRS service ahead of Globe, kahit na may mga errors pa siya. Time to Market will be a critical factor, which in some companies, cases, can spell the difference between 90% market share, and 9% market share (Palm in its early years :) ).

However, if you DO have a hard core tech product, you are recognized as the leader of the field, then you should take your time before you launch a product, or else it may come back to haunt you. (FireStone tires, Glitches in the Pentium4, iPAQ errors... etc.)

With products, you have to be more careful :) If word got out that Sony VAIO's were manufacturally defective... uh oh.. that spells trouble for your company's image, and stock price. :D

[StuDmuFFin]

it's ok if you have large sum of financial backing for your company to cover up botches or mistakes. But if not, you have to research and brain storm about potential problems. I personally would like the latter option cuz' it will save your company money, time, effort etc...

I wouldn't say what microsoft's style doesn't work i mean they are one of the biggest company in the world. 'nuff said

[CaRaMBa]

I think this is a terrible thing for brands (products) - it will cost a lot to "fix along the way". Imagine revising the packaging often. Imagine revising the PRODUCT itself. Yung tipong, "ay, hindi pala maganda yung green na shampoo bottle, blue pala dapat". Disaster.

For services, I think there's really no choice but to continue to improve. Of course one should start with good service already. "Fix along the way" in this case should really mean "continue improving".

For tech, there should be a balance between the two - speed and quality. The thing with tech is that everything happens so fast. If you don't launch your product within the next two months, a better product will be out there ahead of you for sure.

[Mokkori]

Most of what I know when it comes to product launches are related to computer industries.

The thing about the computer industry is that it is constantly improving and the rate at which technology is improving is steadily increasing as well. Unfortunately, technology itself is improving more on the aspects of shere power, speed, and size. The rest of the basic functions are pretty much the same, thus methodolgy in working out bugs and the like stay redundant.

For an OS like Windows from Microsoft. There are an almost infinite amount of situations that the program itself can get into... this is largely due to the fact that MS has to create a single OS for a huge variety of PCs with an even wider variety in specs. There are literally hundreds of different ways to set up a PC and that's not even taking the hardware manufacturer's specs to begin with! :eek:

A part of the R&D of the OS is to throroughly test it as much as possible. I'm not sure as to Microsoft's methods, but a lot of devolpers send out beta versions to voluteer users and have them report possible bugs... this goes on until they think that they've covered most of their bases. But even at that, with literally tens of thousands of inital users lining up to purchase it within the first month, a few bugs are bound to show up here and there!

In addition to those bugs, there's always the question of upgrading. Whether we like it or not, our programs aren't gonna last us more than 5 years on a practical level, and most programs have probaly seen more than 10 upgrades withing that time frame.

As far as PCs and Macs go, products will always have "pahabol" patches, improvements and what have you! Since PCs and other computer platforms vary so widely in their specs, it is nearly impossible to bring out a fully, bug free and complete product for it... unless of course your program is as simple as Notepad! But that's another story! :D

[KuyaDanny]

Be still, my heart.

Mokkori has visited The Working Filipino!

[Mokkori]

Originally posted by KuyaDanny
Be still, my heart.

Mokkori has visited The Working Filipino!

Ngeks! Is that something ba? Hehehehe... parang out of place tuloy moi! :)

Actually, I've never really been to this forum before eh! I just started to notice it when Leigh became a moderator here! :p

Hehehe... basta galing galing this forum! Support for Leigh narin yun! :D

[KuyaDanny]

I'd like to add some real-life examples which I have experienced firsthand.
A 245-room international business hotel in Davao City; opened December 1998
A 128-room serviced apartment project in Ortigas Center, Pasig; opened January 2000
Q-Zar Manila, a franchised lasertag game at the Shangri-La Plaza; opened December 1994, closed September 1997

In the first two cases, despite the presence of managers from international hospitality management companies, and experienced employees hired from elsewhere in the hotel industry, debugging the "human systems" was an ongoing process for up to six months from date of launch.

In the last case, despite installation and training assistance provided by the franchisor from the USA, all the employees hired had no work experience in the interactive amusement industry. This was also the first Q-Zar installation in Southeast Asia.

The point I wish to make is that in service industries, "launch now, fix later" is almost inevitable. One cannot expect to roll out a perfect product on Day 1 because no matter how much training and preparation your staff undergoes, nothing quite prepares them to face customers, and give the service demanded, as actually facing customers - preferably those who frown, nag, complain, scream, and threaten.

A lot depends on teamwork and taking the customer pulse. When the yelling stops and is replaced by smiles, compliments, tips, and repeat business, this means that the bugs are fixed.

[zimdude]

I am involved in product development for Internet services, so it is natural to have internal testing, followed by external beta testing, then continuous releases and improvements. I think what is important is to set expectations so that the client will not react badly to problems. This is especially true if your service is innovative and groundbreaking.

[potato_babe]

Originally posted by Leigh
Most of the people don't like to launch something na "pwede-na", but some companies follow Microsoft that they launch something that is good and if problems come up, they just fix them in the process.

--->>>> I believe that products before launching should have their UPS (unique selling proposition) that will give them the edge in the market. A product should never be launched just for the heck of it since money and hardwork are involved. (Mugosh, imagine hiring services of an ad agency just for the launch then at the end of the day ala namang difference ang product mo... haaay)

Businessmen and companies should be very Scrupulous (with a capital S!) to present products that will enhance the lives of their consumers, not just the bottomline numbers but social-worth.

What can you say about this Microsoft way of doing things?

---->>>> I guess this strategy though is still acceptable and widely used mainly because experience still is the best teacher. Softwares are further developed by feedback from users that are not looked into by the development team during conception, etc. So I agree with this one. As long as the product is still enhanced and that no promises are undelivered. ;)

[Leigh]

Noisy Cricket, i see your point about companies are no longer into the dotCom strategies, but before, i was only thinking of "Launch now, Fix Later" with regards to the Internet, since it's a continuous process of improvement, you just upgrade and stuff like that. (like what Mokkori mentioned earlier)

right now, am looking at the service industry (c/o KuyaDanny)

With regards to the one brought up by Caramba, it is terrible for brands since i actually remembered that there was this car, they had to "return" all the sold cars to the dealers due to certain miscalculations...i actualy don't remember the brand but it's a famous one.

i agree with studmuffin, zimdude and potato_babe on the different items :) it's just so scary that people in your team just want to launch something na "half-baked" and you risk your reputation as a company in the process.

[DieNieger]

I agree sa sinabi ng ibang posters dito sa thread na ito!? it depends kung ano ngang product na i-la-launch mo!? but for me as an I.T. yuppie ...that is a major No-No, though maraming IT Companies are doing it right now. But to do it like that compromises the quality of work you are doing... and marami clients ang madidismaya if the product is not supposed to do what it is supposed to do. But on the other side, may advantage din ito, especially if you want to make pogi-points to your clients... kasi sasabihin na mabilis kang gumawa... but then again, the quality is still not the same.

:cow::cow::cow::cow::cow:

[KuyaDanny]

In fairness to vendors of software, especially custom-built systems, launch now fix later is also often the way to go. This is often because the customer doesn't always have a clear idea what he wants from a system when he specifies it. When Release 1.0 is running on the customer's hardware the users typically realize how the system could be tweaked and revised to do tasks they did not think of earlier.

Thus begins the iterative process between customer and vendor resulting in Release 1.x, 2.x, etc.

[skipKulisap]

well in my humbel opinion....depende.sa problem..kung yung functionality eh ok naman..tapos yung itsy bitsy pieces lang naman ang problema...like local languages for reports....eh yung reports eh di naman daily nirurun..eh pwede....pero kung main functions..like kung sa computation ng data...na important..eh dapat aysuin muna bago irelease...gulo no....eh ganyan ang buhay eh magulo talaga...di ba pare DIE...:smoking:

btw..yang die nieger na yan...magaling yan....most sought after programmer ng new millenium yan....paging head hunters.....:D...