http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000356.html

Great Quote: Customers Don’t Know What They Want. Stop Expecting Customers to Know What They Want. It’s just never going to happen. Get over it.

I am a software developer myself (10+ years) and I have worked at Fortune 100 companies (Intel & Grainger) and now independently provide software services to clients. I have worked with developers that have earned prestigious awards like Honeywell’s software engineer of the year award and also have worked with individuals who couldn’t write descent code to save their life yet, somehow ended up in management.
I state all of that just to say I completely agree with you, from an informed perspective. I use to be very frustrated working on million dollar projects that were so loaded with requirements, that no one ever took a good look at the problem, instead they only wanted to “meet” requirements. We have all used programs that may be able to accomplish the objective, but it certainly wasn’t intuitive or easy to use. Many times you have to stop the customer from designing the solution and instead have the developers take a good look at the problem. This is where many people go wrong. In best case scenarios I actually like to do the job of the client and then design the software around that experience. Many customers don’t know how or what technology can do for them, they simply get a glimpse of a possible solution then try to pigeon hole you into developing that solution. I do know how companies get into “tech specs” and “requirement docs” and love to use the “hit by a truck” analogy. I have seen so much time spent in these phases, it has really helped me understand how the government can spend 100K on a 10 cent screw.
As far as the iPhone goes, cover your ears my mac friends, Apple has missed some key features where a good requirements doc could have helped out. Not making the phone 3G was a huge drawback for me, in fact I use the internet so much, that alone would keep me from buying the phone. Another drawback is the battery being soldered to the motherboard. Everyone knows batteries go bad, and it would be nice if you could simply replace the battery like in most cell phones. With all that being said, yes, the iPhone has certainly done some amazing things that has caught everyone’s attention.

Back to looking at RC plane stuff for me!

-Kevin

Good points. Let me respond to the bit you disagreed with.

My point is not that “nobody every asked for” a better phone. I personally complain about my cell phone all the time. My point is that, even though people were dissatisfied with their current phones, no one created a set of requirements for a better phone, at least not to the degree that Apple did with the iPhone.

Now, I’m willing to grant that maybe, just maybe, people did come up with a list of what would make an awesome phone. Even if that’s true, there’s no way they came up with a list as exhaustive as the iPhone’s, and they certainly didn’t write requirements for the nifty zoom and fade effects of the user interface.

This debate is somewhat irrelevant anyway because my article wasn’t talking about shrinkwarp products (with this one exception), but rather custom software development. My point was to simply say that Apple didn’t create the “world’s coolest phone” by taking requirements from customers and simply implementing them.

–Dave

I think it’s important to realize that, when dealing with people that have a personal interest in the product anyway (corporations may be a different story), people *are* willing and eager to tell you what they really want. Requirements is a bad way to do it, and no fun for either end, but they go through the pain because they so want you to understand what they want. If you can build the trust that you are “getting” what they are trying to say, in spite of their lack of vocabulary, theory, etc., and if you really can understand what they’re getting at, then you will be poised to work “miracles”.