The potential for using online community structures to bring customers into the Product Development Cycle is very exciting... but also still very nascent.
I was reminded of this again today, reading a good post over Go Big Always about some companies' tendency to approach online communities as a place to "dump all their crap" and hope that people will "help them make it better".
"Help Make it Better" doesn't just happen
Going back to Forrester's useful delineation of the different types of communities and their business goals, the "Development"-focused community, which seeks to bring customers into the product design and iteration process, is one of the most valuable - but also the hardest to create. Oftentimes, companies hope for 'design collaboration' to emerge from support-focused communities... which is relatively rare.
Some early examples of purpose-built product design collaboration are starting to emerge, but I think we're going to see a lot more ramping up over the next couple of years.
photo credit to Rick
