Always Read the Comments

Fri, 28 Jun 2019 05:23:55 -0700

“Never read the comments” is a familiar maxim told to technologists building products.

It makes sense, right? Users typically only leave feedback after they’ve either had an extremely poor experience or a positive one.

However, there is value in reading online comments if you frame them correctly.

Identify New Product Champions

Building a strong relationship with individuals who are passionate promoters of your products is a crucial strategy for growing a business. You can often find them in the comments! Look beyond traditional “comment boxes” to social media, forums, Slack groups - any online space where communities gather. They’re the ones answering questions about your products, sharing your content, and seeking you out at conferences.

The Easiest Way to Keep Product Documentation Up to Date

Fri, 07 Jun 2019 05:23:55 -0700

Documentation.

The backbone of successful and beloved products, but difficult to keep up to date given how quickly products evolve. Not to mention dreaded by software developers, who would instead write code.

Given these challenges, I’ve found that the easiest way to keep product documentation up to date is:

While working on a product, update its documentation simultaneously.

At face value, this appears simple enough, but often isn’t.

Why This Approach?

When building your product or creating a demo, chances are you’re focused on a specific area or “theme.” This includes installation/setup, hosting, interacting with the CLI, debugging, UI theming, backend API integration, etc. Updating documentation simultaneously is much faster when the related product concepts are fresh in your mind. This is often the reason why developers shy away from documentation updates - it’s left to the end of the current task or sprint, making it easy to fall to the wayside. Or worse: “when we get to it” which, spoiler alert, is often never.

Product on Ionic, Capacitor, Web Native Expert

Always Read the Comments

Identify New Product Champions

The Easiest Way to Keep Product Documentation Up to Date

Why This Approach?