Roadmap - should we be worried?

[SweetPotato]

I'm not normally one to publicly bemoan a lack of progress here on Ning but checking out the roadmap today left me a little depressed. There are really only three or four things on it, two of which (blog and third party commenting) have been on for a year, and one (ning ads) was announced not long ago at the seeming development expense of things that were promised a while back (blog and third party commenting).

I know there have been minor updates and that some of what I have listed are major redevelopments but this is the first time I've felt cause to highlight the perceived sense of stagnation that I'm feeling.

Is there some cheer you can bring me, Ning?

http://creators.ning.com/page/product-roadmap

Thanks SP

[ismail shah]

Jen, I thought Social Network have Freedom of Speech regarding any issue etc.

Jen Seriously m Fan of ning thats why M on Ning and not moving any where else i can work on other CMS open source etc. i like ning and i always want that i will support and stay with ning. Daily Problems and due to last 5 days m tired of hearing complains.. NING is not in my hand that i customize Modules and repair it.

Any way m removing it,Before it cause some more problem. m not dis-respecting Staff, If m not getting support where i should complain ?

I respect u as well Creators and Jensocial.. if you are saying its wrong then m removing. 

i will wait and watch.  :)

[Jen]

Hi ismail,

I think it's pretty well known that I love creative expression. And really, I know it's none of my biz. But, sometimes a person needs to step up and defend others, so I did. I feel like you went too far.

Best,

Jen

[Eric Suesz]

No need to remove your post, ismail. I respect your words and accept the criticism. I encourage you to re-post. 

[Eric Suesz]

Kwaku: As I noted in my reply right above yours: There's a limit to how transparent we can be. We've gone further than anyone else at telling you about our product plans a year in advance (who else does this???). At some point we must draw a line. 

[SweetPotato]

I guess the problem might be our expectations since you made the roadmap public and openly said that you'd be regularly updating it. Cheers for getting back to me though, Eric. In Ning we trust, I guess.

SP

[Eric Suesz]

Well, I don't blame anyone for wanting more. I want you all to have more. It's very timely that you bring this up, SweetPotato, because it has been on my mind a lot lately, particularly as we move toward the end of 2012 and look toward 2013.

I strongly advocated for a public roadmap when we made the switch to a paid model because I felt we owed it to our customers to show them we weren't going to fold as a business, that we intended to build specific things they had requested from us over time. I think that approach was a big help in regaining some of the lost trust people had in us. I was impressed that we mostly stuck to the roadmap and ended up building waaaaay more things in the past two years than we had in the three or four years before the roadmap existed. But I've been thinking that approach may not be the right one anymore. Maybe it's time to retire the roadmap as it works now and try something different. 

[SweetPotato]

Totally get that. If the roadmap is not working, for whatever reason, then it might need replacing.

Maybe a well-flagged poll of features people have requested here on creators (people you may know, directory listing module, whatever) and a quarterly assessment of that via a blog based on your dev team's thoughts? Some might get traction with you guys, some might not. More than anything it would say 'we listened and think that's great or that is total rubbish'.
Just a thought.
SP

[Jordon McGee (Jords)]

Sounds Like a good idea SweetPotato. Though it may consume more resources of their time than what they wish to put forth for a roadmap, but it is a neat concept. I'm game for trying it.

[Janettee McCrary]

I really like the Getsatisfaction/Uservoice system. Can we not have a system like that? We add things we want to see, they get voted on, a Ning employee lets us know if they're not going to happen/being looked at/in progress/done. We can also leave praise for the Ning team, as well as complaints... Leave this network open for creators to share ideas and have a place to share announcements and pertinent links/info.

[Thiago Santos de Moraes]

Do not retire the roadmap, it is  a great Ning characteristic.

And I do not understand what these people are complaining because it has been said, more than once (in other topics), that we will have good innovations in the coming months.

[Ningaholic]

Eric - I don't think people appreciate the fact that Ning has a direct contact that is responsive in this forum.  While I agree with the need to see a bit more development activity like everyone else, I appreciate you're role in being the face of Ning to customers.  I created a hugely successful career with this platform - I hope you guys are around for a long time to come.

That being said, I would encourage people who want more functionality to check out how you can combine the open platform of WordPress with the Community/Social Networking functions of Ning.  I've been exploring this more as of late and I'm finding it really is the best of both worlds when you find a way to combine both...

[ismail shah]

@ Jen

i not gone far :-O m back now and i will sit with my other NC,s Fellows and Wait :-) 

Sometimes we have to Explain our Members Complains to NING TECH and we have to show our Prob,s & Say lil bit hard words.

Cheers :)