Isn’t it nice when you find a software service that just hits the spot? You’ve got a recurring task to complete and you know there’s got to be a better way to do it. Every year you vow to find a more effective solution, until one day you discover that somebody (quietly and without any fuss) has modeled out a clean software process, built their service on a solid architecture, paid attention to the UI, and everything just plain works!
As I do at the start of every year, I’ve been trying to find a systematic way to collect data from our developer community about our product roadmap. We’re rolling out our first Visual Studio 2005 Practice Sets shortly, but the annual build plan looms large. There are so many areas to be considered and so little time - should we start with security, followed by web apps, windows apps, XML, and so on? How should we sequence and deliver this material in a way that meets the needs of our users? It’s not just an academic exercise, either - we have precious R&D time and resources to consider. There’s only one guaranteed way to find out, of course - ask ‘em!
In the past, I’ve pulled together some fairly basic online surveys using Frontpage, but it’s a really clunky way to build a survey and there’s been no way to collate or analyze the data received without hours of painstaking data review and manipulation. Sending links to the survey out to dozens or even hundreds of developers proved to be a pain, with no clear way to distinguish between those who responded and those who needed a reminder (or those who requested removal from the distribution list). In short, it’s been a logistical nightmare and ongoing headache for all concerned.
So I wasn’t relishing the thought of cobbling another roadmap survey together for 2006. Luckily, I stumbled across a small company called SurveyMonkey and this group has figured out the business of creating and delivering online surveys as a software service. The survey builder tool itself is very intuitive, really well designed, and has a great workflow. Their selection of multiple choice questions is pretty impressive (17 question types in total), and they offer a whole swathe of data analysis tools into the bargain. One of the strongest features is the list management component, which lets you import contacts from salesforce.com and flags the response status for all recipients. It even lets you send targeted reminders to busy developers, so that they don’t forget to offer up their opinions and influence our build plans. How much does a service like this cost, you ask? Less than $200 per year for unlimited surveys and full list management, if you can believe that! It saved me more than a week’s work without a doubt, and the resulting survey is a nice simple online experience.
I’ve put a word into the company to get more information on their services, but I’m a believer after my experience. A few quibbles on the survey software - no status bar to show respondents how far they have to go before completing the survey. Also, there’s no way to import your e-mail template into the survey distribution mail which would be a nice addition. Other than that, I’m really looking forward to seeing the responses roll in and using those analysis tools to see what our developer community sees as a core learning need around VS 2005!
