suggestion: hire a communication manager/technical employee

scocz

This would be really useful. This person could keep close contact with anyone at the Athom forum in order to answer the more technical questions, but could help and keep everyone at this forum up-to-date with any information given. 

At this point there isn't too much communication from Athom regarding Homey. They've got 1k+ pre-orders(!) and can easily hire someone in India or anywhere in the world for less than 5 eur per hour with sufficient technical knowledge to fix and help the easier problems. The fact that this forum is 95% english would add a lot of potential of smart technicians all over the world.

Athom is growing too rapidly to not have this as an option. Hiring personnel is of course a risky and adds a new dimension to the meaning of Athom, but with the information previously given - cant handle more github cases, overall questions or whatever - it seems a really obvious and foremostly smart decision.

The fastest way to kill your own product is to not inform your customers as much as you should. Second of all, you've shipped Homey to the Geeks. Use this as an extended test panel. 

@Emile, if you need something or somebody, just pm me. Ill be able to help you out and give you suggestions on smart options at this point in the company. Dont underestimate the power of all those smart guys here on the forum. They essentially brought this company to the point where it is now.

MartijnHarte

I understand where you come from and I think it's a good suggestion, but:

We shouldn't be having this discussion. This is a choice of Athom themselves. New employees are very expensive and we don't know how much money Athom has to burn left.

When they hit retail and have sold a few homeys they are going to need one, yes. But at this stage, I think we (as in everyone on this forum) should just whine less.

Homey is awesome, has so much potential and it will only get better, why does everyone need to know when? We already know they are working their asses off to deliver it to us asap. Isnt that the best info we could have?

MarcoF

I also suggested it about a year ago. Emile then said it costs more time to tell such a person whats happing and/or what (s)he may of may not say then he did it himself....

We are not whining, we are waiting for almost 2 year and >9 months delay  

scocz

MarcoF said:

I also suggested it about a year ago. Emile then said it costs more time to tell such a person whats happing and/or what (s)he may of may not say then he did it himself....

We are not whining, we are waiting for almost 2 year and >9 months delay  

It doesnt really. We've all learned from this forum, right? 

PimBliek

Well, I'm very much willing to help and I'm available for 1 day a week.

LaurensOuwerkerk

If I recall correctly I saw an integration of Indian Helpdesk agent already passing by in a video?

MatjaLipu

DenW

MartijnHarte said:

We shouldn't be having this discussion. This is a choice of Athom themselves. New employees are very expensive and we don't know how much money Athom has to burn left.

When they hit retail and have sold a few homeys they are going to need one, yes. But at this stage, I think we (as in everyone on this forum) should just whine less.

Homey is awesome, has so much potential and it will only get better, why does everyone need to know when? We already know they are working their asses off to deliver it to us asap. Isnt that the best info we could have?

Couldn't agree with you more.

I get that everyone is anxious and excited as the product is nearing "completion", and agree that Athoms communication could be improved somewhat. On the other hand, whatever information Athom does provide, the more vocal people on this forum feel it's not enough. Will it ever be?
Every piece of information is disected to bits and lately even questioned. While I get that this is also, in part, a consequence of the perception of lacking information, that kind of forum sentiment is not exactly an encouragement to improve communication.

Athom is a startup, has come a long way, and as far as i can tell its employees are frantically working to get problems solved with firmware so that the next batch shipped will be working and stable, whatever the version # may be. This has been their stance all along afaik and is also the general communication from Athom. That is what they are concentrating their resources on, and quite rightly so imho.

So, don't people here have a right to voice opinions or disagree with something? Sure they do, but I think it would benefit us all if these could be placed in a somewhat larger view than just a personal living room\mind set, while the tone could be a bit more positive\forgiving. Progress is being made. The product simply is not "there" yet and won't be until at least a first pre-order batch is shipped. Probably not even until it is in stores.

And imho, that is something that should have been considered when backing or pre-ordering. Homey is a complex software product coupled to hardware that stems from a Kickstarter campaign that resulted in a startup company developing its first ever product with limited (human\financial) resources. Bumps in the road are to be expected. The ending of the Kickstarter campaign doesn't magically make those bumps disappear. Getting mad, tossing the product or whining about little or even major setbacks doesn't help you or anyone else. On the contrary, i might add.

2 geeks have taken it upon themselves to go on a journey to create something new, a step only few geeks would dare to take. They appear to be doing their utmost to deliver a quality product to its prospective customers, whether you are a backer or a pre-orderer or waiting for the product to hit the shelves. I can only commend them for it.

Just my €0,02..

scenarbelgium

+1 to that

MarcoF

+1 on above and delay  

_{(the bigger the delay, the better homey we get in our livingroom)}

Jaxc

if we all put our 2 cents together, athoms funding would go true the roof
But +1 for me to. I pray to the gods all will go well from now on, and we will all soon enjoy our Homey.
much love for Athom

MarcoWijk

DenW said:

MartijnHarte said:

We shouldn't be having this discussion. This is a choice of Athom themselves. New employees are very expensive and we don't know how much money Athom has to burn left.

When they hit retail and have sold a few homeys they are going to need one, yes. But at this stage, I think we (as in everyone on this forum) should just whine less.

Homey is awesome, has so much potential and it will only get better, why does everyone need to know when? We already know they are working their asses off to deliver it to us asap. Isnt that the best info we could have?

Couldn't agree with you more.

I get that everyone is anxious and excited as the product is nearing "completion", and agree that Athoms communication could be improved somewhat. On the other hand, whatever information Athom does provide, the more vocal people on this forum feel it's not enough. Will it ever be?
Every piece of information is disected to bits and lately even questioned. While I get that this is also, in part, a consequence of the perception of lacking information, that kind of forum sentiment is not exactly an encouragement to improve communication.

Athom is a startup, has come a long way, and as far as i can tell its employees are frantically working to get problems solved with firmware so that the next batch shipped will be working and stable, whatever the version # may be. This has been their stance all along afaik and is also the general communication from Athom. That is what they are concentrating their resources on, and quite rightly so imho.

So, don't people here have a right to voice opinions or disagree with something? Sure they do, but I think it would benefit us all if these could be placed in a somewhat larger view than just a personal living room\mind set, while the tone could be a bit more positive\forgiving. Progress is being made. The product simply is not "there" yet and won't be until at least a first pre-order batch is shipped. Probably not even until it is in stores.

And imho, that is something that should have been considered when backing or pre-ordering. Homey is a complex software product coupled to hardware that stems from a Kickstarter campaign that resulted in a startup company developing its first ever product with limited (human\financial) resources. Bumps in the road are to be expected. The ending of the Kickstarter campaign doesn't magically make those bumps disappear. Getting mad, tossing the product or whining about little or even major setbacks doesn't help you or anyone else. On the contrary, i might add.

2 geeks have taken it upon themselves to go on a journey to create something new, a step only few geeks would dare to take. They appear to be doing their utmost to deliver a quality product to its prospective customers, whether you are a backer or a pre-orderer or waiting for the product to hit the shelves. I can only commend them for it.

Just my €0,02..

Amen to that!