Re:Ask HN: What mistakes in your experience does management ...
by pc86 on Thursday August 17, 2017 @10:28AM
(#15037070)
1. Building a product for a specific client takes less time than building a configurable generalized product that you can sell to others. The business may be willing to take a $30k haircut as in your example, but are they also willing to have development take 50-60% longer (and the additional financial costs of that)?
2. Once it's a generalized product, how will that first client feel about being told that a new feature they want won't be built?
3. As a corollary to #2, the first client will also look at it as something they purchased, not a service that you now offer to them. They'll demand things and the business will need to have the fortitude to tell them no, and most businesses can't (or won't) do this.
It's very hard to get a scenario like this to work out where people are still happy with the arrangement 2-3 years in the future.
2. Once it's a generalized product, how will that first client feel about being told that a new feature they want won't be built?
3. As a corollary to #2, the first client will also look at it as something they purchased, not a service that you now offer to them. They'll demand things and the business will need to have the fortitude to tell them no, and most businesses can't (or won't) do this.
It's very hard to get a scenario like this to work out where people are still happy with the arrangement 2-3 years in the future.