Byrne Tony Byrne

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Roadmap magic: protecting yourself from the analyst influence game

22-Feb-2007

Tags: Document Management (ECM), Web Content and Experience Management, Marketplace at Large, Selecting Technology

We're in the thick of research for several evaluation reports. This means talking to vendors and (mostly) customers. I can say with certainty that the gap between how vendors and customers see the same product has never been wider.

There are many reasons for this, but let me dwell for a moment on the role of vendor product and marketing managers. They're typically the ones to deliver demos and PPT-fueled "briefings" to analysts and the media who then report to the rest of the world -- often all too breathlessly -- on product "strategies" and "roadmaps." Many product managers are ex-analysts themselves, who know how to play the game. And quite a game it is: involving spin, fancy diagrams, and assorted sleights of hand, all designed to make product development appear like a much more rational and successful process than it really is. I could regale you with anecdotes -- the new Ajaxy interface that's been promised for 2 years, the untethering from Oracle database dependency that's laid just around the bend in the roadmap for the past 5 years -- but this entry is already getting too long.

Even more troubling is a tendency within some larger vendors for product managers to remain unversed in how their products really work and ignorant of the key implementation challenges their customers are facing. So what are you the buyer to do? Read analyst reports (including our own) skeptically, watch demos critically, and take the time to develop a longish short list. But if you want the Ultimate Truth about a product and vendor, nothing beats testing software in your own environment.

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