I wanted to ask the community how you’d like me to communicate TR plans with you. My goal is to be open and honest with what we’re doing and where we are going. As far as I know, I share more detail about company internals and roadmap than any other CEO. There’s probably someone who shares more, but I’m not aware of them. I read a lot of feedback on the forum that takes me sharing the roadmap as being dishonest and “teasing” upcoming features. We get a lot of questions asking for specific launch dates for features. In all honestly, I don’t know the launch dates myself. This is the hard thing about software. At TrainerRoad, we operate on a list of priorities and work through that list with the resources we have. Thing #1 was AT and Thing #2 was Group Workouts. Group Workouts was supposed to launch after AT but covid pushed that forward. As of now, there are no “secret” features on the roadmap. I’m willing to share just about everything. So here’s my question to the community. poll

Nah, it’s not false or misleading advertising. The mail references to multiple blog posts. After clicking on adaptive training you get forwarded to the following homepage. [image] Introducing Adaptive Training: The Right Workout, Every Time. - TrainerRoad Blog Have you ever wished TrainerRoad could actively respond to your unique strengths, weaknesses, and scheduling needs, to train you as an individual and make you faster? Now it can! Introducing Adaptive Training, the biggest update ever to TrainerRoad.... It explains the concept and time line in detail and offers registration for priority access. Though I guess you would have to actually read the email and blog post for that. :man_shrugging:t3::joy:

Bit harsh to say that’s misleading. They are announcing a new product which is actively being rolled out? Plenty of communication around it has explained it’s being rolled out in stages to squash bugs and make sure it is understandable (which is fair if some people have managed to get themselves so confused by the announcement!!).

Great thread and kudos for the open engagement that TR has with their user base. I think we all have a genuinely emotional attachment to the team and brand which is a direct consequence of how you’ve engaged and how you maintain an open dialogue. Lot’s of organisations out there could do far worse than emulate what you do. For me there is a clear difference between roadmap transparency and feature launch. Roadmap transparency, keep doing what you’re doing, the two way dialogue that you generate on features is useful for everybody and we are all engaged in upcoming features and where the product is going. Feature launch, I think needs an accompanying timescale to go with it. I think everyone will understand that plan dates can flex but normally you would launch a feature when you’ve got a good handle on when it’s ready for prime time. I think AT crossed the line of roadmap transparency and became a feature launch, which triggers pent up excitement and frustration. People have gone through the podcast, dipped into the marketing materials but still don’t really have a clear idea of when they can get their hands on it. Ultimately though you can’t please everyone all the time and it’s very clear that you are pleasing most of the people most of the time. Which is a pretty hard act to pull off, the way you guys are doing things now sets a pretty high bar.

Exactly. Bike companies don’t release a bike on the same day you can actually buy it. They have press days etc and teases bits of information it is just a way of generating marketing. The trouble with communicating so openly and being active on the forum is that people feel like you owe them something. Personally I like the communication but appreciate that it is your choice to engage with your customers in an open and frank way and this is something I like. As you have mentioned others view this as you teasing information. Keep doing what you are doing - the approach is refreshing and as others have alluded to I know more about the direction of TR than I do my own company I work for. Well done, keep doing what you are doing and when I get the opportunity I am looking forward to trying out the AT features (already found a new workout using TrainNow which I am looking forward to doing so I added it to my schedule for Saturday!)

[image] stueys: still don’t really have a clear idea of when they can get their hands on it. [image]tada tada tada Introducing Adaptive Training! tada tada tada Next people will probably get in this week depending on the PR status of the one above. New features will come to EVERYONE in weeks, not months. Of course, I could get burned by this statement if we have a very bad bug. [image] tada tada tada Introducing Adaptive Training! tada tada tada TrainerRoad Software Next people will probably get in this week depending on the PR status of the one above. New features will come to EVERYONE in weeks, not months. Of course, I could get burned by this statement if we have a very bad bug.

And this one. [image] Adaptive Training Closed Beta Update Announcements Thank you to the many thousands of athletes who registered for access to the Adaptive Training closed beta! Going forward we’ll provide regular updates on how things are coming along, both here and on the podcast. We added our first group of athletes to the beta on Thursday, and we’re adding more athletes this week. You’ll be notified by email when you get access, with the subject line “You’ve been added to the Adaptive Training closed beta!” Initially, we’re starting slowly so we can watch how…

[image] pykeylou: As for setting hard dates to go live, it’s easier said than done. Perhaps a time frame would be helpful and share a timeline chart of that roadmap. This. [image] pykeylou: In any case, I’m a big fan of TR. Your unique style leading makes the entire TR team outstanding and revolutionary! And this.

I think it’s important to remember that not everyone is on the forum. I think they are crazy for not using it because it’s the best forum I’ve ever been a part of, but we shouldn’t assume all users are here reading these massive threads. Having said that, I have zero issue with the way TR releases info and love all the info sharing.

That’s just it though. I didnt say it was NEVER mentioned. I said the messaging was inconsistent. And sending out mailers saying you’re introducing a new feature with party emojis and exclamation points as well as a sign up email to use the feature, without mentioning these things are not actually available yet, while having blog posts saying these things are not available is the definition of inconsistency. I’m sure I’m not the only one here. I would say TR making this thread is evidence that they themselves realize there was an issue with the release and it’s messaging. Say what you mean, say it consistently the same way, and you avoid all of this silliness from pissy, pedantic people like me lol :rofl: Edit: Just to be even more clear…I’ll give an example. Instead of sending an email to customers with the subject “Introducing Adaptive Training!” With party emojis, instead send an email with the subject “New Adaptive Training Feature Entering Final Testing Phase!” Then in the body, include a signup portion: “click here to apply for enrollment to final testing. Get earlier access to feature, and help trainerroad improve the feature for all users at final release date (date TBD).”

@Nate_Pearson thank you for your continued openness to all subscribers. You won’t ever make everyone happy. Like in restaurants, someone will always complain but many will always come back. I’m sure you’re doing the best you can and being open about it is top notch! Like we say in the kitchen “ good food takes time” :beers:

TrainerRoad

TrainerRoad CEO Communication

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mcneese.chad March 4, 2021, 1:48pm 94

And this one.

Topic		Replies	Views
Coming Soon: Updated Training Approach 🚵🏻 Announcements	226	18009	January 22, 2026
Adaptive Training -- How long does a beta usually last? TrainerRoad Software	49	3202	November 1, 2021
Adaptive Training Closed Beta Update Announcements	1941	113182	August 19, 2021
TR (and mainly Nate) Appreciation Post TrainerRoad Software	46	5116	January 16, 2023
To TR: Please Devote XX% of Development Capacity to items that AREN'T AT TrainerRoad Software	44	2722	November 20, 2021

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