it really doesn’t. i’ve never remotely said that. i just don’t like to see people piling on as defenders to some people, acting insulted when people criticize. if it were one offs here there i’d probably never say anything.
fwiw i also think the people yelling scam and then to cancelling have a few screws loose. they just want to holler, and there’s no need to let them lie and get away with it (case in point, a post on one of the fb groups today trying to make a glowforge is junk meme. lol ok bro).
(1) With respect to “those that took offense” vs. “those that were offended”. The second, IMHO, implies that I agree that my words could be easily interpreted as offering offense - which I completely disagree with. I chose my words with intent. If anyone took offense, they made that choice - no offense was intended, offered or implied in my words.
(2) Which leads to you comment regarding emotional investment and feeling personally insulted. I personally don’t have any feeling of being insulted by the individuals complaining about the schedule delays - just fatigue at the constant rehashing/bashing going on. On the other hand, it is evident that many of the individuals complaining do take offense whenever anyone chooses to disagree with their views.
Unfortunately, the current political climate seems to lead to people taking offense whenever someone chooses to disagree with them.
With respect to GlowForge, I can only say I am EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED in the delays over the last two years, but that I never interpreted the posted updates as being anything more than Dan’s best educated guess on how the schedule would play out based on the information he had available at the time he published the update (which, IMHO, is how anyone should read updates on a product of this complexity being manufactured for consumer use for the first time). This has been a journey for GlowForge as well, as a product like this has not been delivered to the consumer market before at this price point. I have written before pointing out where, in my mind, updates were published with schedules that had to have been known as not achievable, based on later updates.
We obviously have a difference of opinion on the schedule predictability in delivering a product like this. And that’s OK.
From my perception, each time they delayed, the new schedule likely seemed reasonable based on the issues that were known at the time along with a little padding. The unfortunate fact when doing things that haven’t been done before is that new issues pop up after you solve previous ones.
When you are a project planner with an already late project, you are going to make your best stab at guessing how long such issues are going to take to solve. You get the best input from the others on your team, then layer that into your overall schedule. If you have times (probably with some padding) for all the things currently known as ship stoppers, then you can make a reasonable guess as to how long it will take to get past the known ship stoppers.
What you’re not going to do is assume that there are more than x% of more ship stoppers hidden. X might be 10 or 25, but certainly not 100 or more. Lots of tools exist to help model this, but you’re never going to be able to account for all of the Unknowns.
What they might have been able to do better is to announce further delays at the time they realize their not going to meet the (then) current estimate. There have been times when they stuck with the current plan of record right up to the date for start of delivery before they announced the next delay. However, earlier messaging would not change the actual resultant timeline and it may have pissed people off even more because there would have been more delays by count, even if not more time delayed.
I, personally, think @dan and team have done a good job in keeping us in the loop.
Not to muddy the water but to what I hope is help in accepting the delivery date. I will be one of the later ones to receive my GF. I was dismayed and concerned, but that was long ago. My son suggested that the delays were software related and software is doable. that it didn’t suggest problems with the finished product. Just be patient and you will benefit from the clean code and technical improvements along the way. So, I’ve waited and will be happy to receive mine later this year.
i ordered another product - only perifically related and the product was not released as promised. I asked about it and they sent a partial product a month later. A partial product to partially satisfy me. I wrote them a second time and suggested they hang on to the product - clean all the bugs and let me know when it is deliverable (as GF has done)
Glowforge has been a lesson in faith for me and patience. I only speak for myself and as my formal work life has only recently ended and am not in a bad place in terms of needing to generate an income. As evidenced by all the reports i am more and more convinced the my trust has been well placed.
I have ordered mine on Sep 25, 2015 order #R430500638. Basic with filter. Are you telling me that I won’t get it till December 17? I understand you want to deliver the best but that means you are 1 year late from original promise. First Dec 2016, then March, now October, filter December. It appears to me I could have put my money in savings account for 2 years and buy it now and still get it delivered on time since everybody gets it in November 17.
That is correct. If you had known, you could have put your money in a savings account for a couple of years. But since you ordered during the crowdfunding - if you tried to buy it now it would cost you a couple thousand more to do it.
You should get the option of getting your Basic without the filter anytime from now through October based on their rollout. You should get the filter no later than the end of December. If you choose to have them hold your Basic until the filter is ready it’s no later than the end of December but may be sooner based on their current schedule as others are receiving their (GFs, not filters) now.
