“What’s the difference between open-source innovation and listening to the customer?”

This is one of the questions Guy Kawasaki poses in his book, Reality Check.  In the chapter “Mavericks in the Workplace” he provides the answer given by Polly LaBarre which says in part…

“The open-source insight is simply that you don’t have to be smart enough to have all the answers; you just have to be smart enough to invite others people to play in your sandbox…  If you want to create an enduring, emotional bond with customers, create a sense of shared ownership and participation among customers themselves…  Shared ownership is much deeper than simply listening to the customer.”

I don’t have all of the answers, but I am smart enough to invite others to play in my sandbox.  I am developing requirements for a virtualization management product (not an open-source product) and hereby invite you to share the virtualization management challenges you have faced. 

• What was the challenge? 
• How did it impact you? 
• What outcome would you like to see? 

I would like to work with you to understand your needs.  I will listen and hopefully help you overcome your challenges.  (This sounds too much like a personal ad, but I can guarantee you that we won’t be taking long walks on the beach together.)  If you are willing to please email me at tgary@tripwire.com

Virtual Product Management

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 at 4:18 am and is filed under Virtual Product Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.