Tomorrow I leave for the November 2013 MVP Summit in Redmond to visit with the Microsoft Office for Mac development team. I’m exepcting my fellow MVPs and I will get a glimpse of the unofficially named Microsoft Office 2014 for Mac and details about its release some time next year.
The Office for Mac product managers and developers have their fingers on the customer’s pulse to gauge his needs but look to outside resources like MVPs to offer a second opinion. We bring a unique perspective from helping their customers every day with their products. We find bugs. We find demands for features. We find satisfied and unsatisfied customers and relay their experiences to those making the product.
When MVPs are allowed to view future products, sometimes the devleopment team is no where near completion and what we see isn’t even the final design. But that’s not to say the design hasn’t already been carefully planned. Our goal (our wish!) for attending is to pop in a the right moment of the product development cycle and offer input based on customer feedback we see in online communities and receive in person. If we can influence the design to make the product better for the customer then we accomplish our mission.
Remember the Human 