Why I the roadmap planning a secret ?

Whenever I ask questions to the tado helpdesk about missing features, I always get referred to "the roadmap". When I ask about concrete dates for the items on that roadmap they start beating about the bush, definately not providing answers. Doesn't give me comfortable feeling.

I seems the published roadmap dates from 2016. The "new things" page has two items, the most recent one from 2018.

Roadmap planning secrecy and "no news syndrome" are bad signs in the software industry.

Is Tado posing a technology risk threat to its customers ?

Answers

  • [Deleted User]
    edited May 2019

    Hi stefaanv,

    We provide the road-map so you can see what we have planned for tado° in the future. The problem is that it is almost impossible to give a firm date for a development.

    We would love to be able to say "feature x is coming on day y", but this just isn't feasible.

    Best regards,

    Frank

  • Frank,

    That is a rather bad answer.

    I don't know any professional software development team that has the luxury/audacity not to put dates next to their milestones. The current roadmap picture was published on your twitter account twitter on the 26 dec. 2016 ! I can't find any updates, maybe I'm looking in the wrong place ?

    Of course planning software development is notoriously difficult and dates will change when priorities change (or when thing prove more difficult than expected) but that is not a reason for not publishing dates. Now there is no transparency at all.

    I'll give you one good reason why you should regularly update & publish your roadmap & planning :

    **customer friendliness**.

    Stefaan

  • ziki
    ziki ✭✭
    edited March 2019

    Stefaan you are completely right, it is a ridiculous answer, if you are not able to put dates (and this is the first ridiculous point) you should not public any roadmap!

    This roadmap is out since years and years and no one of the upcomig features has been implemented:

    https://support.tado.com/hc/it/articles/205505299-Quali-nuove-funzioni-sono-pianificate-In-cosa-consiste-il-piano-di-sviluppo-

    Tado marketing direction is quiete clear: get more customers as possible implementing the features that are the actual trend, so...voice control, posponing and postponing critical and really useful features and bug fix.

  • mw9342
    mw9342 ✭✭✭

    Updates should be more frequent; here's a good example: https://firecore.com/forum/topic/13575

  • ChrisJ
    ChrisJ ✭✭✭

    I agree. I work in a (very) large software company and frankly it is better not to publish any roadmap than to publish one and then not update it for months/years. Gives customers a very bad feeling.

    Customers want to know what is coming (I know that I do) and will in most cases understand if priorities change or schedules slip. So either keep the published roadmap up to date or remove it entirely. The current policy doesn't do Tado any favours at all.

  • Shame on you, Tado. Your response to this question is disgraceful.

    Tado:

    > We provide the road-map so you can see what we have planned for tado° in the future.

    Without an update since August 2018, we can see no such thing!

    Tado:

    > The problem is that it is almost impossible to give a firm date for a development.

    I think enough of us work in tech and know the difference between a firm data and a projected delivery schedule. You parked an update in 2018 and have left it to rot. That is not a roadmap. Furthermore, Tado has resisted all questions on this subject. I wonder, is Tado in trouble?

This discussion has been closed.