A more harsh assessment from someone I respect is - If you are not willing to eat your own dogfood … your company should fire you.
What is Dog Fooding?
“Eating your own Dogfood” is a phrase used at Microsoft and a lot of other tech companies. I use it all the time to describe what my company should be doing with regard to new products and services we are offering.
Why should ANYONE Eat their Own Dogfood?
Simple. Because it’s good for your business.
- Maybe your team will NOT be the most productive.
- Maybe people will curse the day they had to do it
- Maybe your team will dread the next release
But in the end … The customer should end up with a better product. Employees will also have a better feel for what the customer and partner goes through when they install, test and use their products.
The Ultimate Penalty
I was talking with someone I trust and respect recently about Microsoft people using iPhones, iPads, Android and other non-Microsoft based devices and software. His assessment was simple. They should be FIRED!
His logic was simple. Whether or not the Microsoft based solutions were the best or not … they could only get better with use and feedback from the employees. At last count that was 90,000+ Microsoft employees. That’s a LOT of feedback.
Caveat: The only exception is … if employees are testing for compatibility or otherwise researching the products from a comparison and go to market basis.
What do you think?
- Should companies dog food their own products?
- Should people that use non-company products be fired?
- Should partners be “encouraged” to dogfood products?
What alternatives do you recommend?
Drop me a line in the comments here or ping me at my other contact points below. I do want to know if I’m barking up the right tree here.
I have spent the last 20 years working in various aspects of the ECM industry. I am currently with Kodak as a Director of Business Development. In my past I have spent time at Kofax, Microsoft, FileNet, K2, and at Captaris (which was acquired by Open Text). Prior to that I was a Unix VAR running my own company. Follow me on Twitter, check my blog, send email or find me on Facebook or LinkedIn.
Comments
Despite what they might think, they are not all-powerful, they are not the military, and they most definitely are not a dictator.
I see most west-coast software companies still fall into the same trap and the same costly bugs repeat again and again throughout Asia, Europe and Australasia.