I was taken aback by the comment on the podcast, honestly. I think you share plenty and that what you share has always been welcome. In fact, I hear more about the status and progress of TR from you than I hear about the status and progress of the company I work for from my CEO!
Personally, I think TR does not owe any of us a timeline nor does it owe us communication about how many people are getting added to the AT closed beta or when the next waves will be. When I look at other industries (notably video games) the communication is starkly contrasted by yours. Large companies in the video game sphere (Valve and Blizzard, especially) are notorious for never communicating anything during the core development cycle, and the impatience shown in response to the AT closed beta announcement gives me perspective on why that is.
That said, it appears to me a lot of people simply do not understand how exclusive closed betas are, especially at the outset. I think sharing more specifically that the AT is in closed beta and what exactly closed beta means would have reduced the number of comments asking about access and timing without the need to share a defined set of target dates.
I also think curating an FAQ with the AT forum thread and using that to create some more narrow and specific timestamps from the podcast episode (perhaps even a sticky thread on the forum and a blog post) would have answered a lot of questions, too. I use the chapters a lot to jump around when I have limited time, and you couldn’t do that in less than 20 minute chunks with last week’s episode.
Just to elaborate on my earlier message…I think the core thing that people (me…) get annoyed about is inconsistency in messaging. A mailer was sent put advertising the new features, and asking people to sign up for them. There was no mention of a long delay in actually being able to use them. The implication was it was available immediately.
I’m in sales…consistency of messaging is important, especially when dealing with orders/purchasing things that dont even exist yet. If there is a known unknown…simply convey that. It always ends in disaster if it is just left to the imagination for people to figure out what the situation is when it arrives.
One mailer linked to a blogpost explaining the concept and time line. Another mailer offered registering for priority access. Did you get another different mailer?
IMHO, the overwhelming majority of people who have no issues with or like how you conduct business aren’t going to come here and post it (as the survey results are showing). The tiny minority of people who want to take issue with things are going to be the most vocal, unfortunately.
This is the announcement. No mention whatsoever of this not actually being a thing yet. False/misleading advertising IMO.
The fix is very simple. It just should have been verly clearly worded to convey that this is something that they are working on, it is not ready, and it will be released at an unknown point in the future. Declining to include that crucial information is just asking for trouble from the get go.
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!)
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
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”
Part of Trainerroad being so good is that we can communicate directly with @nate and the team. Combined with the simplicity of the software and the quality of the training plans and depth of the podcasts is the reason I’m a subscriber
