This is the forum archive of Homey. For more information about Homey, visit the Official Homey website.

The Homey Community has been moved to https://community.athom.com.

This forum is now read-only for archive purposes.

Re: Software status

2»

Comments

  • MHubertMHubert Member
    edited December 2016
    Martijn said:
    guys, I understand the feelings but do you think its better to leave @Emile to his main job?
    Communicating with the community is a good thing but eats also much more time then thought by some people on this forum... You have to choose words wisely because every slip of the tong wil result in a battle of words against Athom. Therefore I like the informational posts of @Emile, and the proposed schedule is ok for me. Of course if Emile feels bored some moment he can write about the beautiful things that comes in the near future... but I think that will not be the case.
    And if he feels bored, please get the TOON app up and running and release the damn thing
    3

    You really think that those 15min. software post, just before the VrijMiBo, eats a lot of productivity?
    If so, then those Athom guys are one of the few who are productive on Friday past 16:00.

    And there's probably more to share then; We are working on this awesome part and will soon release this also great piece of code and....

    Things like long lasting bugs were the are working on just take some from Trello and talk about it. He could also talk about bugfixes which are made in the new Pre-Alpha release and are doing good in first wild tests.

    Also Athom is almost completly disapeared from the Forum and that one post every week shouldn't/couldn't be that to much asked.

  • Bumblez said:
    As a company, communication with your customers is essential and should always be at the forefront of priorities (and no, I don't mean communicating with each customer individually or answering every single question). This includes the kind of info I was talking about in my previous post. As the CEO of the company, it should be Emile's responsibility to overlook that this kind of communication happens. This doesn't mean he has to do it himself... it could also be someone else (like Annemarie) who provides us with that kind of information. But saying that the company is too busy to communicate with its customers, is nearly the same as saying that the customers are no longer a priority for the company... which would definitely not be a good thing.
    If I buy a home cam from - for example Withings (just bought one) - can I expect full communications about development, upcoming firmware versions with all details about changes and fixes etc etc? 

    Nope, never ever had this with a product. I'm also not expecting this from a company because most of the time the story told in these updates change before you know, resulting in discussions with customers (with wrong expectations) about why fix x and patch Y and feature X not implemented in the update as told in the weekly announcement...

    It is nice when you get sometimes a look in the kitchen (dutch: kijkje in de keuken :) ), but I personal think it is not good to demand (or have expectations for) weekly updates about every detail.

    So I think its a good thing to let @Emile or colleagues decide about when there is enough information to send out a nice update. In the mean time we get more and more applications (with updates)... Implement and play with Homey, report your bugs. And ask for missing functionality in forums...

    After that I decided to temporary abandon voice control I have so much more fun with Homey. I want to automate every thing without telling Homey what to do. The only thing I'm waiting for is STABLE! presence detection, without battery eating solutions...
    I'm trying to build flows that discover home and away status with three different methods (better presence, Homey app, and NEST app and state control)

    <3

  • MHubert said:
     He could also talk about bugfixes which are made in the new Pre-Alpha release and are doing good in first wild tests.


    Things like this are a very, very double-edged sword. If Emile says that function XX is doing well in pre-alpha tests, but then it appears a day later that they missed a crucial bug and it will take 3 more weeks to fix it, the community will be in uproar.
    This is exactly why it doesn't just take 15 minutes to write something like this. Emile needs to communicate with the team what is ready enough to be 'released' to the public and what isn't.
  • So the can't say anything.
    that's also whats happening and see what it brings for fuzz..... 

    So saying not is the solution to prevent problems, but saying nothing also brings buzz.... 

    Very delicate line to balance on :dizzy: 
  • @Martijn you have to be kidding. You really compare the communication needs for the company behind a generic retail product with those of a startup company that was funded by the money from most of us, and that still has a long way to go before their product can be declared 'fully functional' (even if they have decided to go retail as well, now) ? In the latter case, the customers are more like investors.

    Second, even if you should buy a retail home cam and you discover that it's not yet fully functional (ie several of the advertised features do not yet work as advertised), then yes, you have a right to expect to be informed on their development plans, upcoming firmware versions, etc. The alternative would be to return the product and receive a full refund... I'll let the company choose which of those two options they prefer.
    Example: suppose you buy a retail home cam, and it has excellent recording quality, but the functionality to transfer those images from the cam to another medium (either through USB, or through a network connection) does not work yet. Can you honestly say that you would be satisfied with that product if there is no communication at all from the company, about their development roadmap to get that fixed?

  • Bumblez said:
    But saying that the company is too busy to communicate with its customers, is nearly the same as saying that the customers are no longer a priority for the company... which would definitely not be a good thing.
    Conclusion: Without customers no company!
  • Bumblez said:
    @Martijn you have to be kidding. You really compare the communication needs for the company behind a generic retail product with those of a startup company that was funded by the money from most of us, and that still has a long way to go before their product can be declared 'fully functional' (even if they have decided to go retail as well, now) ? In the latter case, the customers are more like investors.

    Second, even if you should buy a retail home cam and you discover that it's not yet fully functional (ie several of the advertised features do not yet work as advertised), then yes, you have a right to expect to be informed on their development plans, upcoming firmware versions, etc. The alternative would be to return the product and receive a full refund... I'll let the company choose which of those two options they prefer.
    Example: suppose you buy a retail home cam, and it has excellent recording quality, but the functionality to transfer those images from the cam to another medium (either through USB, or through a network connection) does not work yet. Can you honestly say that you would be satisfied with that product if there is no communication at all from the company, about their development roadmap to get that fixed?

    @Bumblez ;
    I understand your opinion and what you are saying... Please understand that I also wait for a 100% working version, on the same time I know every minute they work on communicating they don't work on the product.
    and I think @KoenMartens and @MHubert hitting the nail on its head :smile: 
    Communicating with customers must be in balance... I don't say they don't have to communicate at all, but they also don't have to communicating every minute to tell us which bit or byte they update.

    Maybe I'm totally wrong but honest, is the reason we want to hear from Athom getting status updates or do want to hear the final word about "feature X" (thats different for everyone) is implemented and if they communicate every week are we satisfied with the news feature X isn't complete yet....? (sort of rupsje Nooitgenoeg)... :smiley: 

  • I'm not expecting them to communicate every minute (and I don't think anyone in this thread ever said they did)... all I'm asking is that they communicate with us once a week. See also my first posts on the previous page (here and here) for what I *do* expect from them. And as I said, it doesn't even have to be Emile... if it's Annemarie who can make these posts, then that would be fine with me too. But even if it is Emile... do you think one such post per week (let's say half an hour every week) would significantly delay the delivery of the product updates you're waiting for?
  • Good to see that many people did react on this discussion i started. Thanks! Also good to see that the most people do think that @ahtom should do better. 

    But the main question remains now, did @emile or other @athom also read this thread and are they doing something with it.

    Well i guess not, but the answer must be comming tonight. Because most of the time @emile writes on friday.
    So if nothing comes tonight he puts a big finger to all of us who asked for more communication...
    ...or he did not read it, which also is not a very good thing i think.

    So fingers crossed...
  • BumblezBumblez Member
    edited December 2016
    Well, Athom *did* send out a newsletter today ("Volledige Chromecast Support en HEOS bediening!")... that also counts as communication, right?

  • @Pils You can't count the 21 people who reacted as the complete "Homey-diehards", let alone "Homey-users". Also, what @Bumblez says...

    BTW, this week, 700 messages got posted on the forum...
  • So the Friday is (almost) gone and, as expected, there goes the weekly update..... 

    Very sad to see but also, athom/emile a bit knowing, no surprise and so as expected. 

    End of an era and end of A....? 
  • @MHubert positive as always
  • MHubertMHubert Member
    edited December 2016
    @MHubert positive as always

    I'm always positive, but in this situation not seeing anything positive. 

    You read slack this evening? Very realistic chat between Marc and Jeroen. 

    Always ready to help and sick into something. You noticed my "research" on the domoticz zwave mesh part? 
  • MHubert said:
    @MHubert positive as always

    I'm always positive, but in this situation not seeing anything positive. 

    You read slack this evening? Very realistic chat between Marc and Jeroen. 

    Always ready to help and sick into something. You noticed my "research" on the domoticz zwave mesh part? 
    I read the chat between them... but to call it realistic?? Hmmmm ok..... I respect your opinion! 

    Cheers!
    <3
  • Really hoping on a great awesome first 2 week update. Also hoping on an new blog.athom.com with some more insights. 

     <3 
Sign In or Register to comment.