I wish our users were baseball fans
It’s opening day today, and it’s always a great time for baseball fans. Regardless of who you root for, your team’s record is 0-0 and everyone gets to start anew. By the end of the season we all expect the familiar teams to be on top: the Yankees, the Red Sox, and my beloved Mets (don’t blame me, I grew up in Long Island).
For some teams (read: Washington Nationals), there is no chance that they’ll end up in the playoffs in October. They don’t have the pitching staff, their infield is made up of guys who wouldn’t even start on most teams, and they don’t have the big hitters to score enough runs. Yet on my recent trip to Washington D.C., my brother explained to me that the management just isn’t spending money right now. “Our fans expect this to be a rebuilding year, and they’ll be patient for the team to develop.”
I was thinking about this today after I got a few emails from users who were a bit exasperated that we don’t have a particular feature. They wanted to know why we didn’t have the feature and what we were going to do about it. Of course I let them know that the feature is on the way (because it is!) but I have to admit that I paused a moment. I wanted to ask them for patience– to stick with our team as we build. But I didn’t write that. Why should our users be patient when there are other alternatives out there? I guess that’s the crux of the issue: like it or not, the Washington Nationals are the only team in town. Their fans will stick by them as they build.
Maybe some of our users are baseball fans. For those of you who are, happy opening day. Be patient with your team and you never know what might happen (well, unless you are from Kansas City).
(written and posted from the NJ Turnpike, this time going north).
