Communication Wish list

First of I’d like to thank Dan for being on the forums regularly and answering questions regularly. That being said I’d like to see some more transparency from the company, especially now we’re all facing a six month (plus?) delay. I know we’re customers, not angel investors, but I’m also not asking for a beta to be flown out and demo’d first hand .

  • Regularly scheduled Q&A video sessions with Demos
  • The new Timeline to Dec
  • Regular scheduled open houses
  • “Glowforge founder” only meetups / demos before or after the Makerfaires.

None of these are new things… just more often and scheduled. If there’s anything else you can think of that won’t interfere with trade secrets or Glowforge’s competitive advantage feel free to add to this list.

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I mentioned this before, but I’d much rather see this than spending more time in the forums, if you’re trying to maximize impact for time / effort (although I know it’s not directly translatable since it’s easy to jump into a forums discussion while waiting on a flight, etc).

I personally feel like they have been extremely transparent.

Maybe it is my obsessive reading but I feel I have a good grasp on where the project is. Especially with the latest announcement.

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Topic header maybe a bit off. I like regular updates and maybe I’m different than most but I’ve grown tired of logging in to scour through the threads to glean information on the power supply etc. Subsequently I’ve lost my “regular” badge. You’re correct that the information is out there, but it isn’t in a regular spot that I can go to when I have time and feel like logging in to see what the latest updates are.

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I’d agree but this isn’t a common post either.

I can see wanting a topic thread that keeps up to date with all of the newest info, but it seems most of the time the conversation in any given thread changes over a few days and no longer reflects the title of the thread, the best bet would be to click on the announcement section instead of the latest section on the drop down menu.

I agree, it would be nice to have a concise update with all the disclosed info about hardware and software changes. It could be live and just be updated when new info comes out

The announcement section is a little too static for what I’m looking for and doesn’t include the type of information I like to hear about. I’m interested in problems as well as successes. I liked knowing that the power supply wasn’t working as expected and that there would likely be a delay on the shipping. It enables me to reset my personal expectations about timelines etc.

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Part of that probably treads too closely to giving out information that can help competitors (even knowing a timeline can do that). I think there’s probably a happy medium, though.

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Whoa, @Jamie, you’ve got to be one of the longest participating forum members. I do agree that having to slog through all the posts for snippets isn’t for everyone, nor should it. I had thought the power supply problem was licked before Christmas but only recently found out it was more problematic. The latest developments seem to call for for a different response. It’s a good start to get so many premiums. Will be interesting to see how it unfolds. What type of communication makes good business sense and also helps keep customers engaged.

I definitely don’t want workflow details. I’d be happy with a Gantt chart with 4 categories - Beta Testing, Manufacturing Setup, Manufacturing, and Shipping.

For the Videos with Demos I’d think it would be an advantage for the team to know if the items that they’re currently working on appeal to the end users. It would allow them to pivot if for some reason a large portion of the users don’t want to work with leather for example (I’m not one of those so Forge on @madebynick).

Makerfaires for Glowforge are a marketing event. Not the best place for “Founders” to get their questions answered, but an event before or after the Makerfaire is a perfect opportunity.

Open houses - This one is selfish. I can get there but it’s a five hour drive so if there’s a scheduled open house then I would LOVE to see the office and a Glowforge firsthand.

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If I remember correctly the last open house had 24 hours warning and was limited to the first 125 RSVPs.

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As usual you are correct and as there was obvious demand I’m surprised it wasn’t repeated. I’m pretty sure it was the first and last open house, though I could be wrong.

I hear some good points. As for open houses, here’s something to think about: oftentimes, an open house in a small company means clearing out and repurposing the entire space for half a day or more (the evening event itself, plus time to get all the proprietary stuff out of sight, people’s workspaces cleaned up, project-in-process clutter taken out of its working state/habitat, mindsets shifting out of their assigned project mode and into cleanup mode, and then all back again, plus follow-up that inevitably follows such events). If the entire company has to get interrupted, how many person hours is that lost to the project? Say 20 employees working now, losing 6 hours each, that’s 120 work hours lost. That’s like giving one essential employee 2-1/2 weeks off work. I’d way rather have that 120 hours go toward production instead of a single event.

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Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I suspect it would be much easier to do a meet and greet at a pub some Friday night or something, instead.

I don’t disagree that open houses may be too time consuming. This is just my wish list. If we get just one thing out of it I’d be ecstatic. I am definitely not one of the people who complained about too many emails.

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Maybe if they just took over Ghostfish for an evening. That would be cool. The brewery is literally next door!

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These are great ideas. Especially a timeline. One Kickstarter I’m supporting is a much (much) smaller project, but he frequently (every 2 weeks or so) updates a kind of vague milestone chart. (About halfway down on the page).

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/820113175/escape-the-nightmare/description

His way of visualizing this kind of thing is so good, I’ve nicked it for presentations for a few months now.

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A good start on a communication wish list will be the Q&A tomorrow, just announced.