As product managers we are charged with understanding the market. We search for insight into problems. Problems we hope the products we help develop will solve. For many of us, our customers are the market we serve, or at least represent a cross section of it. Solving problems for them also means solving problems for the market. So, how do you go about collecting this valuable insight? How do you go about understanding your customer’s current reality?
Last week at ScienceLogic we held our annual Customer Symposium; an event where we invite our customers to participate in two intense days of knowledge sharing and interaction with all sort of people throughout the ScienceLogic organization. Our CEO, Dave Link, kicked off the event by reminding everyone in the room– we are here because of you – the customer! I am fortunate to work for a company who is concerned with our customers. That is one on the things I liked about ScienceLogic many years ago when I too was a customer. And at ScienceLogic, we are all fortunate to have customers that are willing to share. Share their time and their insight so that we can better understand their problems and our market.
I had many chances during the two-day event to discuss the projects I am currently working on with the people who will actually be using them. It was rewarding to receive confirmation that we were actually working to solve problems that are important to our customers and the market we serve. I also received numerous ideas of new problems they hope we can help them solve or enhancements we can incorporate into future releases. Getting feedback throughout the product lifecycle means that we can deliver better product and more value. For that, I thank all of you who shared your insight with me.
During this event, we launched the new section of our customer portal called Answers, which is a “Stack Exchange” style forum. Here customers can post questions, answers and comment any time day or night. This forum is visible to all our customers, but it will also be monitored by many of us here at ScienceLogic, including the product management team. Answers provides one more way for us to interact with our customers. Ask questions, answer questions and comment on posts. Vote for questions and answers you feel have value. If you are a ScienceLogic customer, I encourage you to post your questions and feedback. And, I hope you will share some of your knowledge and experience with other users in the ScienceLogic community just like you shared your insight with me last week.
To our customers, thanks again for attending symposium and for helping me to better understand your current reality!
