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By YTB

14 thoughts on “Eevblog #73 – how to screw up your winning product”
  1. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Christopher Guy says:

    Don't forget about New Coke fail.

  2. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars RoscoZone says:

    While I feel Dave's 'pains', some perspective here might help…

    Companies generally want to have their products maintain 'competitive'. If their products aren't competitive due, eg., to competing products offering greater functionality or other desirable traits at a consummate price point, they can stand to lose market share. This drives 'product improvement'.

    Companies that have technical staff on their payroll (think: several Dave Joneses in a department) want to see a 'Return on Investment' (where their 'investment' in this case is salary). Dave Joneses (and other homo sapiens specimens) appreciate being paid, so they 'innovate' and arrive at new ways to solve and create new versions of things. Sometimes external management forces are imposed on the design engineers. Those forces can sometimes be misguided and often management do get it wrong. On the other hand, they also often do get it right, but we don't complain about these instances…

    Another driver to create new products can be changing regulations (particularly in the area of product safety) and component parts obsolescence. In such cases, the drive to create a new version of a product is often unavoidable.

    “The Only Thing That Is Constant Is Change -” ― Heraclitus

    What drives change? Our insatiable and innate competitive nature.

    On balance, its better not to stagnate, IMHO – it keeps the neurons firing. I should know – for my (apparently voluminous) sins, I'm a LINUX sysadmin, where something fundamental changes with each and every release with attendant increasing complexity and forcing a re-learning of long-learned skills. I probably wouldn't want it any other way, though…

    I noticed in the video – Dave's driving something more recent than a Model T…? Seems it might have…seat belts…? Airbags…? ABS…? A radio…? Crumple zones…?

  3. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Jareh Ashur says:

    Technicians hate engineers, engineers hate marketers, everyone hates management.

  4. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Filip B. says:

    There you go: marketing – I hate it !!! :):):):)

  5. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars JanicekTrnecka says:

    The basic rule that is widely ignored by marketing and management -> dont mess with it if it works !

  6. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars justagun says:

    My family left Sunicrust Bakeries a few months before they were bought out by Goodman Fielder. Within the span of 2 years, their marketing changes to the product changed their market share in this region from 95% to about 10%. Fail….

  7. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Adam A says:

    no shit.. would you buy a new tv to replace the same perfectly fine tv? upgrades are what advances technology. you cant make the best device possible on the first go

  8. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Darren DeBattista says:

    this makes me remeber about the pickit 3 issue… I'm ones of those who experienced that DOWNGRANDE version of the pickit 2

  9. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars mashersmasher says:

    what you don`t see is that he`s being chased by a bunch of leather clad men with crossbows on motorcycles.

  10. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars hootis8 says:

    mm windows xp-win vista

  11. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars John Rigola says:

    The 21st century will be remembered for a paradigm: UPGRADES. Without upgrades, people just have no reason to buy new stuff.

  12. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars ceriand says:

    For future drive-time blogs you might want to consider locking the exposure settings on the camera so you don't fade into the shadows. Nice blog otherwise!

  13. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars scancool says:

    Dave is an American thing to make changes, thats why you see American cars change so much over the years, but BMW and Mercedes they try to keep the same look.
    And is so funny but true when they put someone new in charge that guy try to show that he is doing something and mess up so bad, in the company where I was working long ago they put some sales guy in changer he lost $5million to the company cause he made changes.

  14. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Jan Tichavský says:

    I usually don't like changes too. I think the managers are obsessed with the innovation cycle, sometimes it helps but sometimes it breaks the product.

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