Product development
Hello, ladies and gentlemen,
I would like to write an article for the Mentors Quarterly (hope I will gather enough for an article) and would like to know your opinions and experience. The topic for today is "Product development".
For those who don`t know what the wuarterly is, check here:
http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/index?rid=/library/uuid/b00e0953-3aa9-2e10-dd98-e19d93ffb889
My thinking is mostly from the development perspective (i am a developer myself), but if you have something to share and it is not about writing ABAP or Java, but is still a "product", pelase share it.
If you`re a SAP partner/ integrator employee, I would be interested in:
do you offer products?
how do you define products? Does that mean the same as "solution" or "package"?
how do you get ideas about them? Do you build something first and then look for customers? Or you take something you built for a customer and improve it so it is usable for others? (can be seen often)
do you have dedicated teams for products? Or do you build products as hobbies? (dayjob: consultant, night-shift: product development...)
do you use products you build?
do you protect your products? your codes? your intellectual property somehow?
If you`re a customer, I would like to know about:
do you buy "products"? why yes or not...?
do you find "products" any better than average "Z-code"?
is there anything you often miss about the "products" that you`re offered?
how do you like the support? do you get any support as a part of the delivery?
I welcome any inputs, either fitting into my outline or anything I missed. I don`t ask about your business secrets, special procedures, nothing like that. I am interested in general things, about things you do, like, you can recommend...
If that turns into a fruitful discussion for everyone, I would be glad.
Outputs can one read in the next Quarterly, if it makes an article. Would be cool if I could use names to thank you for the contribution in the article, would you mind that?
Cheers Otto