I've worked in a few software houses, small and big, that sell software products. I regularly see successful products being ignored by the development teams, while they work on exotic and unlightly new ideas. Customer suggestions are ignored unless required to win a sale, and even then the the effects are underwhelming.
Why are all software products ignored once they're delivered?
The answer is that all software companies share a dream, of spending a fixed cost to develop a product that can then be sold to the entire planet. I call this the "Mushroom effect". Or maybe its an hallucination and not an effect?
During development phase the dream of future profits keeps the management committed. However once the product is out and the sales team start trying to place it, the dream of world domination gets replaced by a reality of less than exponential sales. Then the cost/benefit analysis kicks in - why improve this product with such limited sales opportunities, when we could work on the Next Big Thing? However the product is never killed, otherwise someone would have to take responsibility.
Please comment if you've seen a similar effect. How long does it take for the dream to evaporate?
