I just love reading Seth Godin’s blog because there are times that he can really put things in a very succinct way. His latest post - You’re Right! is a great example of taking the time to think through the feedback that you get.

A big part of my job is to review the issues that come up and think of ways in which things can be improved and one of the hardest things to do is to set your foolish pride aside and listen to what others say. There are a lot of passionate PickupPal members that take the time to write to me with suggestions on how we can do better and I would say it is very rare that I do not agree with them. Initially my knee-jerk reaction was to be defensive - make excuses - tell myself that they just don’t understand. However I learned very quickly that the one not understanding was me. I live, breath, eat, sleep PickupPal - every detail is floating around in my head nobody should think about PickupPal as much as I do. When new members come to the site and cannot figure things out - it is not their fault it is ours for not making it easier to use.

My advice to any CTO’s out there - listen, listen, listen - and say thank you. Whatever the system you are building - you are not building it for yourself - you are building it for your client and if they don’t get it then you have failed no matter how elegant you may think it is.

Cheers - Eric