In the early days, I heard that with the Intuit product, they would go home with the early buyers of the product and write down every annoyance, small or large, that users had with the product. I can't help but think that led to building better products and increased market share.
If this is in fact the case, it is a little counter to how many things are built, presuming that 1) everything can be automated and 2) a developer eating his own dogfood while using the app may not be quite enough resolution for how well it works for grandma. Working with actual paying retail customers, in person, does not sound like it is the culture of Microsoft.
If this is in fact the case, it is a little counter to how many things are built, presuming that 1) everything can be automated and 2) a developer eating his own dogfood while using the app may not be quite enough resolution for how well it works for grandma. Working with actual paying retail customers, in person, does not sound like it is the culture of Microsoft.