The importance of Roadmapping

[Jordo]

I have to say that I am fed up with companies lacking in this department. I for one have a problem buying any product from a company without knowing the roadmap for future developments. I think we should all be greatful that Mr. Garritan is so actively involved in his user base, and continues to provide information about future developments. Although sometimes I even wish he would provide more. But maybe i'm just crazy.

With-holding these 'future developments' doesn't do anyone good, and if anything you loose potential customers. A roadmap isn't intended to release the implementation details of a product to competitors, merely let CUSTOMERS feel like they are informed and somewhat involved.

For example, I sometimes HATE Apple, just cause they are so secret about everything. I love IBM cause they publish roadmaps on just about all of their development efforts.

For instance I was looking into buying a larger library. EWSO gold or opus 1. So I'm thinking opus 1, because of the legato tool..... But then i read that EW is working on their own legato solution.... Hmmm, so I'm thinking that EWSO would be better buy if it had a legato solution. But wait, I can't find any other information on it. No details, no estimated timeframe, no nothing. So I don't have the information to make the decision. Maybe if EW gave more information I could buy EWSO and be expecting a legato update within 4 months. But I don't even know that so I guess I go with Opus 1. Oh but wait, it seems the legato performance tool has a bug in it with EXS24. Oh well usually companies fix bugs within reasonable amount of time..... wait nope. There is no estimated date when the bug will be fixed, oh wait, they don't even say they will fix it.

I can't stress enough the importance of providing customers and comsumers with roadmaps. I think it is something that has been looked over by many, many developers. Estimated dates are just that.....estimates. They are not release dates at all. In my opinion a company should provide roadmaps for all developments to users/customers. Include everything from initial customer feedback on the idea, timeframes, to letting users know when major milestones have been reached in the development stage, to beta testing, etc.

I for one can't stand the 'secrecy' of developments these days, and it just puts me off buying products alltogether. When I make a purchase I want more information available to me. Not just what is the best product right now, what will be the best investment.

[Haydn]

The sample library market is a small and highly competitive market without a large profit margin. Many times the 'secrets' may be the idea that keeps the company in business longer. To let it leak out too early may give the competitor a chance to come out with the same idea concurrent or even before. This is why you won't get much advance warning on many libraries or the ideas behind the library.

Take GPO, it wasn't announced until it was about ready for shipping. Another company found out about it and came out with a competing product very quickly (and with many bugs because of the rush to grab this part of the market). Because GPO had many other ideas (Tom's advanced programming) not understood by the competitors, it still gave GPO a good head start.

I'm sure Gary has many other ideas up his sleeves that haven't been announced as of yet. All we can do is speculate on what these ideas could be.

[Nicole]

Deleting this:) I really should not have said anything and im definately not a debate type of person. I apologize. Staying clear of debate threads! Please if you quoted what I said I would ask if you could edit it out. If not thats ok but I would rather you would.

Thanks

[Styxx]

That said and done, no offense but I think this post should be deleted. Both these companies are involvled on this message board ,I believe, and I dont think last time I checked they are at war. Its not fair to either company and I dont think belongs on this forum.

True, but I could sure use a road map right now...I'm lost. :D

[Jordo]

Im not sure if you ever joined any chats, but gary often asks what "people" want and listens to all ideas which will most likely make it. He reads the forums and keeps up with aspects that people want improved. Tom is often there to help out with this in chat and inthe forum. I don't know much about this secrecy thing since I only keep up with GPO and this forum and I do not know how the people of "Garritan products" have time to sit with us in chat or post so much with all the work they do, but they do. And they do often.

That said and done, no offense but I think this post should be deleted. Both these companies are involvled on this message board ,I believe, and I dont think last time I checked they are at war. Its not fair to either company and I dont think belongs on this forum.

Well Nicole I'm sorry if you feel my post doesn't belong and should be deleted. But you know this is a DISCUSSION board and I was hoping to stimulate some discussion on the topic.

First of all I give my hats off to both companies. I'm not trying to start a 'war' between them. I think both companies provide excellent support, and are constantly involved in these forums which is amazing.

I agree Haydyn. I think that a product like GPO came best as a surprize, and sold a lot more because of the 'head start'. But I think what really is selling GPO now is the wealth of information available to the buyer. When looking through the vast amount of information about GPO on the garritan site one would surely know exactly the product they are getting, and I think customers take comfort in that when buying.

There are some situations when a surprize will be the best of course. But if not I for one really take comfort in roadmapping. For example there is nothing new about 'legato' functionality, and EW's Qlegato will be there approach to it. The purpose of a road map is to provide product information without providing implementation details. There's nothing new about a legato tool, hower their implemenation of the tool may be radically different. Take GOS2... another string library. Another string library isn't a totally different idea. Will it be better? of course so. How and in which ways...maybe we won't know. But I for one like to have a lot of information available to me when making purchases, about future products as well. Because if I know estimated release dates, and how productions are coming along and such. I can make a better educated desicion on whether to buy another library now, or if it is worth it to wait. I just thought it was an important aspect in any industry where there is always somebody else working on something better. And no doubt that this industry is constantly and quickly evolving.

I'm not trying to be mean or insult anyone. I'm just trying to help. And I think Gary is always open to listening to new ideas.

BTW check out the eclipse release plans page.
http://www.eclipse.org/eclipse/development/main.html

Something like this gives me soooo much comfort (drooling) when supporting a product. Although I am a software developer and maybe this doesn't apply to this industry. :)

[Hardy Heern]

You make an interesting point Jordo and I certainly don't see why you should delete it (no offence Nicole). However, I think Haydn's reply says all there is to say.

Gary's a very switched on business man and I believe he reveals everything, which he competitively can, without damaging his business. This business really isn't an Intel or an AMD and frankly I can't think of any company in any other business which reveal their future plans. I'd be interested in other names of companies which do this if you have them......it just seems a little too enlightened for the real world.:)

Frank

[Garritan]

The idea of a roadmap is intriguing. It's always good for customers to know where you're going. Innovators get used to the fact that there are always going to be imitators (I guess that's the most sincere form of flattery). Competition is not the only consideration.

What we have experienced is that when you disclose your roadmap and buckle in the family, the kids in the back seat always ask "when are we going to get there". Some will constantly ask for a release date and may not be happy if you cannot meet it.

There's been a new trendy phenomena called the "Plog" or Project Log. Sort of like a Blog but projects oriented. Perhaps folks have enough to read without sorting through the machinations of a nonconformist sample developer.

Would people like to see some sort of roadmap? Or would you prefer the cards be held close to the chest and we announce close to release?

Gary Garritan

[Joseph Burrell]

Well if you could release info without disclosing pertinent information to the competition then I'd say yes, but that's where things always get hairy. How much is too much information? Where do you draw the line? Obviously, there will be some things you'd rather anyone not know about until they're ready to ship, that way you lessen the likelyhood of competitors swooping in with their version of the same thing shortly before or after your release trying to steal the limelight. Interesting idea, but I'm not sure about it from a business stand point. I guess the next thing would be that hey we can give you information about minor updates and library modifications in those updates, but major projects will remain veiled until it is reasonable to release information.

[Jan Morgenstern]

Hi Gary,


Would people like to see some sort of roadmap? Or would you prefer the cards be held close to the chest and we announce close to release?
Take my vote for the roadmap, I'd just love to see a sample developer do such a thing. When you're into music production, you'll need to be able to plan ahead where to spend your money to keep your technical means up-to-date and interesting - this would be far easier if you could foresee when new libraries will be available and what they will provide.

Some developers (not you, laudably) are using the usual generic marketing buzz a la "we will release the ultimate coke bottle percussion library somewhere in the future, and BOYS, WILL IT KICK YOUR SORRY A**ES!" trying to get customers interested without giving anything away. I somewhat understand if video game developers act this way, but I find it rather inappropriate when the product is a tool designed for professional production purposes (i.e. not cheap and meant for earning money). I just don't feel taken seriously by a developer who's acting as if the things he's doing are for my personal entertainment purposes.

That being said, this doesn't apply to you - on the contrary, your way of taking care of customers is excellent (yadda yadda, as if you wouldn't read this in every second post ;)) I nevertheless think a project log or roadmap would go a long way enhancing the transparency. Besides, if anyone bothers you with "are we there yet?" questions, you can then just say "RTFR" (read the fine roadmap).

Just my 2 cents,
jan

[(((AF)))]

Would people like to see a roadmap? Or would you prefer the cards be held close to the chest and we announce close to release?

Gary Garritan

Gary,
I think that the roadmap would be useful. For us customers, is the way to know where the product is going. Moreover, a published roadmap may be big value to you too: it can drive feedback from the customers and thus ensure that the product development is going in the right direction. And additionally, this will definitely consolidate the community, that will feel directly engaged in the product evolution. My 2 cents.

Alessandro

[Hardy Heern]

Gary,

Of course we'd like to see the road map if you feel you can reveal it......Tell us everything your know!:) I would like you and your competition to reveal their plans so that we can make decisions! This would be ludicrous though as everyone would end up copying each others road map but only some would meet their claims....as far as I can see.

I don't think you'll do it though and I suspect nor will others....certainly not in any detail.:) Go on I dare you!

Now let's see:

GPO v2 (Are we nearly there yet????:) ....I reckon it's going to be released before or after your Edinburgh trip:D )
GPO big band
New GOS
Something else :)

It's the order of release and the details which are difficult!:)

Sometimes things can be finished, ready to go, but commercial timing considerations will prevail too. A roadmap can work in your favour in that if the customer sees something down the road which they would like to progress to, it may prevent them looking elsewhere in the meantime. But hey you know all this and more!:)

I think that competition is everything...in the sense that if a product isn't more innovative than, isn't as good as, doesn't come out quicker than, is less value than, and isn't as well supported as, and last but not least, not as well marketed as the competition....then the business will die. Being very strong in one of these areas may allow inferiority in others.....difficult game!:) You've got to keep one jump ahead. Complacency is the real destroyer of businesses and Empires.

How do you know that someone in Eastern Europe, for example, (a hotbed of programming and musicals skills at a competitive rates....I mean your 'real orchestral competition' orchestra is from there if I remember correctly) isn't going to release a GPO killer next week for example. Yes, and I guess a roadmap wouldn't make any difference in this case. China (and others) must be a concern too....it's a hell of a cut-throat competitive world.

Look at what Creative E-MU have done with their new 0404 sound card for $100. That could finish off the competition too....they all seem to be slashing their prices.

Frank

[Declan]

Gary, I think once development of a product is well along I think it could be to your benefit to provide a PLOG, or some sort of info page about products in development.

You do your homework in advance and you obviously listen to your user's needs/wants and that inspires more than a little loyalty. For a lot of people, like myself timing on purchases has a lot to do with whether or not I'll ever own X on my want list.

Case in point I'm a couple of weeks away from spending a chunk of money on musical stuff - I typically do so twice a year. Realistically it will be about 6 months before I do so again. If I thought the Big Band add-on/module would be available 2 or 3 months from now I'd save some of the money and wait for it (and guess at approximate cost).

News out of Winter NAMM generally greatly changes my want list for my next expeditures. As far as I can imagine the BB module is probably entrenched as a future purchase - but there is sooo much I'm looking at now and none of it is in direct competition with your products.

And my only significant PLOG experience was with Applied Accoustic Science during development for Tassman3. I owned Tassman 1 and it was great except it crashed my system every 15 minutes or so, and my sights were set elsewhere. AAS then sent me an offer to upgrade to Tassman2 which included a free upgrade to 3. I wasn't inclined to give them a nickel.

But I went to their website and read the PLOGS then kept up with them, and decided I was still interested in modular synthesis. The Tassman may be a bad example for everything, but I found myself rooting for these guys that I was more than frustrated with.

And it may just be a quirk of mine, but information reaches me and builds excitement the way no marketing whizzes can. I don't necessarily fully understand everything I read, but I know where to go to have it explained to me.

"Roadmapping" as defined as Jordo may go too far for many developers, in certain cases I feel as he does, but certainly not involving your products. Our wants shouldn't influence what is best for you overall in the market.

However, should you engage in any thing of this sort we expect personal andecdotes - "October 20th. No one is speaking to me, but I have an idea..." :-)

[Hardy Heern]

Declan's mention of Winter NAAM reminds me that I think it's held at the wrong time of the year. I'm sure I'm not the only one but October to March is my most active period. I always feel that stuff anounced at Winter NAAM won't be available until the end of my 'season' and so wouldn't entice me until the following season. By then another NAAM is on the horizon....and so on...

It would suit seasonal folk like me to see NAAM held in August/September and with the announced products being available in Sept/Oct.

Alternatively it would be great if the manufacturers announced their products in the time scales above...via the magazines, and leave Winter NAAM where it is as being the first show where the public could see all the new wares at once.

Just a thought.

Frank