Join devRant
Do all the things like
++ or -- rants, post your own rants, comment on others' rants and build your customized dev avatar
Sign Up
Pipeless API
From the creators of devRant, Pipeless lets you power real-time personalized recommendations and activity feeds using a simple API
Learn More
-
@jestdotty
With the ups and downs of business decisions, we've been on the upside for a long time (good+smart folks at the helm), every once in while a "WTF!?" decision comes down, like the idea for a mobile app. That proposal pops up from time to time with new mgrs and always dies at the feasibility stage (because it adds $0 and costs lots of $$). Now mobile getting pushed by the corner offices where feasibility is someone else's problem.
Not that we couldn't dominate in our particular niche, it's the powers-that-be never think beyond our web site as a native mobile app like Amazon. -
@PaperTrail > "it's the powers-that-be never think beyond our web site as a native mobile app like Amazon."
For example, lets say we sell baseball cards and we're the #1 business the country for baseball cards.
Powers-that-be simply think a mobile app is an extension of the web site.
Since 99% of the employees love baseball, collectors of such, we want an app that allows us to manage collections, share stats, keep updated on players, card values, new collections, etc.
When that idea is pitched, it's "Nobody would use such a thing and customers will probably use the web site anyway for buying cards. Customers want our web site as mobile app!"
In the meeting, someone asked the VP "Do you have any site specific apps on your phone or do you always go to, for example, Amazon?"
VP: "I always go to the site. Why would I need an app for Amazon?"
Nobody said it, but everybody was thinking it.
It's been a while since I've heard a consensus of a moronic idea from the corner offices. I was invited to a department planning meeting (just to listen, not necessarily engage or add value) and discussion went to the development of a mobile app.
Mgr1: "The CEO has the net present value of the mobile project as $20 million. Where did he get that number?"
VP: "No idea."
Mgr2: "How will it be any different than our web site that is already mobile compliant?"
VP: "It is to gain market share"
Mgr3: "Market share from who? A mobile app is not going to increase our customer base. At best, it will only move some of our existing customers to mobile. No way it would scale to those numbers."
VP: "The primary benefit is so customers can browse offline."
Mgr2: "Offline browsing isn't listed in the milestones."
Mgr1: "We're not going to push and keep gigs of data up-to-date on someone's phone just for random times they don't have internet access."
VP: "I guess that's right. We can push our pdf catalog. That's only a few hundred meg."
Mgr2: "Pushing the catalog? That's not on the listed milestones"
VP: "Its all assumed."
Mgr3: "Who owns this project? Web team is already maxed to capacity."
Mgr2: "Marketing team only has 3 developers, we can't take on anything as complex as a mobile app and support the existing processes."
Mgr1: "What about the network infrastructure and PCI compliance? We're talking about a system for the web site and another for mobile, right?"
Mgr2: "Who is going to manage all the versions in the app stores and future changes to the mobile platform?"
Mgr4: "Not us"
Mgr2: "Nope"
Mgr1: "OK, good. Its very likely this project will be dead on arrival at the next company strategic meeting."
VP: "Mobile the only project on the strategic meeting agenda. Sorry guys, it's happening. We're not going to leave $20 million sitting on the table.
<awkward silence>
VP: "Next item of business ..."
rant
strategic planning