Timeline for Evernote updates

[jon_who 5]

@Ian Small I understand that there is a LOT of back end integration and alignment to be done and this is exciting, but; where is the customer engagement ? Please tell us high level timelines for plans -  Being in the dark  is far worse  (in my opinion) than not knowing at all and I think that the majority of paying customers who still remain would be willing to accept long time frames - EVEN IF you needed to change them In the future. Zero transparency on the time frames feels like there is little planning, customer focus or accountability internally (for me). Apologies for the rant but I genuinely love your product and just want to know what's happening!

 

[gazumped 11,661]

?? How many companies do you deal with where the CEO shares their future plans with anyone?  I'd imagine that the otherwise (fairly) nice CEO of SpaceX would be a little terse if one of his customers had a similar request...  Use Evernote if it fits your need.  Find something else if you can't work with what you have.  Things won't change in the short to medium term,  and as customers we don't get to be involved with planning or execution... 

[DTLow 5,736]

28 minutes ago, jon_who said:

just want to know what's happening!

As a user, I want to know how to use this product/service, and that the service is ongoing  
I don't participate in the high-level priorities and timeline planning

[jon_who 5]

2 hours ago, DTLow said:

As a user, I want to know how to use this product/service, and that the service is ongoing  
I don't participate in the high-level priorities and timeline planning

Agreed but I also want to know when they are targeted for release - ie 2020? 2021? My pain point is just consistency across platforms and as a paying customer I’d like to know when that will be arriving (since there are behind the scenes videos showing us whats coming). 

[jon_who 5]

2 hours ago, gazumped said:

?? How many companies do you deal with where the CEO shares their future plans with anyone?  I'd imagine that the otherwise (fairly) nice CEO of SpaceX would be a little terse if one of his customers had a similar request...  Use Evernote if it fits your need.  Find something else if you can't work with what you have.  Things won't change in the short to medium term,  and as customers we don't get to be involved with planning or execution... 

Fair points but I’m not asking for detailed plans. A simple “we’re targeting second half of 2020” would suffice, I think. I’m not talking about involving customers in the planning I’m talking about engaging them by communicating updates and providing more info.

 

[gazumped 11,661]

14 hours ago, jon_who said:

“we’re targeting second half of 2020”

There's a whole raft of considerations Evernote might have there...  

• You'll gather from other threads in the Forums here that a number of users have very passionate views about their own particular favourite feature - and there are dozens of them,  from copy/ pasting text styles to better editing options,  multiple reminders,  compatibility with new image formats,  calendars...  So if your special request is listed along with thousands of others for late 2028,  you'll be understandably upset;  or maybe Evernote (sensibly) elect not to post anything more than a rolling year's projected launches - so the other 900 requests that haven't been listed then get very upset - "why aren't you even thinking about my request!!"  Either way - lots more posts and emails and arguments about relative merits and priorities,  none of which is actually getting any coding done toward any of it.
• And now Evernote does have some up and coming competitors (though they're not that great yet...) it would be a commercially sensitive gift to disclose their future development plans.  The competition can start working on their own feature development with confidence - and maybe throw in a few unlisted bells and whistles so their options continue 'better' than Evernote for the next few years.
• ...And I may have mentioned before than Evernote products work with various OS's and browsers in all their mysterious forms - all of which have developers of their own,  dedicated to moving Evernote's goalposts around on their own schedule.  What are the chances that some random development in 2020 means a major rewrite which delays things until 2021...  To paraphrase a well-used quote,  "Hell hath no fury like a customer scorned" - cue a flood of "you promised!!" hate mail...

There's more,  but you get the picture:  if Evernote say anything,  it's a hostage to misfortune.  Better to say nothing and just get on with it.

[PinkElephant 8,093]

• Develop what you think that it advances your business model / creates value for your customers (existing and new ones)
• Test it, make it reliable and safe to use
• Release it
• Support it, and help your users to draw the best benefit.
• Listen to your users, because they will tell you what to develop

This is what basically a company needs to do to improve and make their (paying) users happy. If you do it by announcing or not is a question of marketing, and I can do without it. I even get curious about the reasons when there is a lot of smoke from a small fire. Better to have a good fire with little smoke. When a company pays a lot of money for hired mouthpieces, this usually is NOT a good sign for the users (shareholders, employees, ...).

What I appreciate is the clear communication from the EN CEO about the direction of the dev‘s work (consolidation, unified functions, rock solid back end etc.) and the series of videos showing of what to expect. When it is done, it will be released, I will get it, and will adapt my use case to new capabilities.