!Restored: How can we make the wishes process better?

[Karl Ottenstein]

This thread had became an off-topic, but general, discussion in a particular wish poll:
http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=23933

It has been moved here to stand on its own for general commentary under the title "How can we make the wishes process better?" as suggested by Peter Clark on 22 Sept 2008. Thanks Peter.

Karl

[Brett Brown]

Its been 3 years. Still nothing. Imagine the wasted hours all round the world, for such a simply addition.

Does anyone have a reason why all wishes have hundreds of views but very few people actually vote? No wonder GS don't take any notice.

Actually, thinking about it, there is no excuse for not enabling this.

[Karl Ottenstein]

Brett wrote:
Does anyone have a reason why all wishes have hundreds of views but very few people actually vote? No wonder GS don't take any notice.

Really good point! The current score here (4.71 as of this post) is high enough that this would count as a priority for GS - except, as you note, not many people have voted.

It makes you wonder - do so few people want to see these things fixed? If so, then it is no wonder that GS ignores the wishes.

Come on people, unless you really have no opinion, please vote in all of the wish polls!

Cheers,
Karl

[Anonymous]

I suppose AC users don't believe poll matter to GS. Like me!

[Laszlo Nagy]

I think people do not understand that if there is a poll and the feature does not appear in the very next release: that does not mean that GS is not paying any attention or they do not care.
I know that they DO care and there are dedicated guys dealing with wishes but they always have to make decisions about what to include in the next version and what not to include.
Whatever they do there will always be people who will not be happy with it.

Edit: Having said that, I voted Essential.

[Karl Ottenstein]

kliment wrote:
I suppose AC users don't believe poll matter to GS. Like me!

I agree with what Laszlo said. GS does care. They are the ones who created the large number of wish forums so that the wishes could be better organized.

But, with our thousands of users on ac-talk, a wish that is responded to by 20 people is not going to mean much to them. I think we all thought that we would see polls with 100's of votes. Just not happening (or if it is, not very often).

In the end, I think that a single firm with 400 licenses will have much more 'say' about their wishes, than our community here until people start actively participating.

Cheers,
Karl

[Anonymous]

Karl wrote:
It makes you wonder - do so few people want to see these things fixed? If so, then it is no wonder that GS ignores the wishes.

I think the trouble may be that the process is so convoluted to vote on each individual item. How do you make your wishes known for a whole host of changes for a particular tool? Has your reseller really got time to go though every single one with you? (Do they even care?!)

How about just simple lists (like questionnaires) that have all the wishes for a particular area or tool, that people could quickly run down the list and vote on each one. These lists would need to be kept up to date with new wishes and implemented wishes removed to remain useful.

I think they should also hide the results as well to make it truly unbiased. I suspect people subconsiously see the percentage number rather than the actual number and believe enough people have voted already and so don't bother.

Personally I have a list of over 160 wishes covering every aspect of AC. Some 'a-bit-crazy-and-out-there', but mainly 'why-on-earth-is-this-feature-not-included' type wishes. Am I seriously expected to start a new thread for every one, or search through the thousands over the years that may or may not have been implemented or may not quite describe what I think is required?

Perhaps these ramblings should be moved to a new thread - "How can we make the wishes process better?"

[Karl Ottenstein]

Peter wrote:

Karl wrote:
It makes you wonder - do so few people want to see these things fixed? If so, then it is no wonder that GS ignores the wishes.

I think the trouble may be that the process is so convoluted to vote on each individual item. How do you make your wishes known for a whole host of changes for a particular tool? Has your reseller really got time to go though every single one with you? (Do they even care?!)

This wish process really has nothing to do with the resellers, although certainly their 'heavyweight' clients' needs can be pushed by them.

How about just simple lists (like questionnaires) that have all the wishes for a particular area or tool, that people could quickly run down the list and vote on each one. These lists would need to be kept up to date with new wishes and implemented wishes removed to remain useful.

I think that GS creates such lists for focus groups based upon our wishes here.

Personally I have a list of over 160 wishes covering every aspect of AC. Some 'a-bit-crazy-and-out-there', but mainly 'why-on-earth-is-this-feature-not-included' type wishes. Am I seriously expected to start a new thread for every one, or search through the thousands over the years that may or may not have been implemented or may not quite describe what I think is required?

Well, yeah. GS would have to enter each of your 160 as individual records in their database. Do you think if you sent them the list, they would dedicate the manpower to do it? Doubtful. If the wishes are important to you, and entered (or found) here, and voted on, they are more likely to make it into the 'master list'.

Perhaps these ramblings should be moved to a new thread - "How can we make the wishes process better?"

Good idea ... and here we are, in a new thread. Thanks.

Karl

[Anonymous]

Perhaps there should be a wish forum posted by GS featuring a filtered list of potential features gleaned from the users' lists. These should get a substantial response if they are perceived as on opportunity to vote on real features under consideration.

I realize there may be all sorts of issues with this (not tipping the hand to competitors etc), but it also seems like it might be a way to get some serious and useful feedback from a broad audience.

[__archiben]

Matthew wrote:
Perhaps there should be a wish forum posted by GS featuring a filtered list of potential features gleaned from the users' lists. These should get a substantial response if they are perceived as on opportunity to vote on real features under consideration.

during the alpha/beta for cadimage's stair tool they provided their uses with a full list of features and functionality representing the ideal end condition. beside each was a price tag - based on technical limitations, time, etc... for them to implement it.

each person then had a budget to spend on which ever features and functions they desired . . . as long as they stayed in budget. it was a good insight into juggling things around from the developer's perspective to get the most with the resources available.

naturally, i broke the budget from the get-go, but i did find it a very refreshing way of polling for feedback on the 'wish' process . . .

~/archiben