I appreciate the rebuttals, and apologize for making such strong assertions that you feel must be called out as “off base”… ie, baseless. It’s based in history. But not easy to move forward without evidence of forward progress.
Your assurances are good to hear, because I believe that the Community could be the key to SmartThings’s long term success, but we do, really need a you, @Ben, a leader and advocate to represent us and keep us reassured.
I speak with cynical emotion here quite often, but I love the positive posts, even as I express support for those that are frustrated by specific problems or the justified fears that there is no resolution in sight. There is plenty of indication that, while I speculate and dramatize, it’s not… baseless.
Sure, thanks for the pointing out I’m “wrong” with respect to published issues tracking lists (as requested for 2 years, by many, and yet nothing is published, not even detailed release notes, pre-release alerts, or consistently timely accurate Status Entries). So I’m “wrong” to assert that SmartThings designers and management clearly appear to not be actively attentive to our suggestions, requirements and feedback (something that with issues tracking could be easy to view and celebrate the progress delivered)? How many posts express frustration that bugs reported months ago are not fixed, that features are removed rather than added, that UX took as many steps back than as forward?
I participated in one of the customer feedback sessions you refer to, but under an ambush NDA… Why the gag orders? In general, I can say without exaggeration that not a single substantive suggestion and concern I raised, (strongly!) has been reflected in the product. In fact, the top concerns I emphasized in the session, turned out to be among the top complaints coincidentally expressed by the Community after it was too late.
I really like you, Ben, and @slagle was an inspired choice from the Community to join ST and your team. But pre-Samsung, you felt more attuned to us, and there were fewer reasons to doubt either your sincerity or influence, or that of your Founder colleagues. There were no Hub V2 promises broken.
I am empathetic to the challenge you face in rejuvenating the faith of the “long-suffering” among us. I want to be wrong about all my pessimistic viewpoints: Since they are well published now, your job is easy; just deliver on what you promise and don’t be defensive about mistakes, and, well, at least try to look like ST is not repeating those same mistakes again and again.
As usual, my peers here will be on a spectrum of pessimism, realism, and optimism. Respectful and lively diversity reflecting the openness of the product and forum. I hope everyone believes I am just sharing what I can only call… “my truth”.
Here’s to partnership, renewed faith, growth and success!