Things Engineers Like: Complaining

Who doesn't like complaining? No one likes it when others complain but it's always fine if you do it yourself. Beware of engineers when you complain though, they will tell that they are annoyed of it and you have to stop. Again, this is just an engineer complaining about others complaining. Yeah, the cycle is never ending and may take hours to be terminated by a brave soul. Engineers will complain about anything and everything. Dilbert seems to complain about management, mostly passively and sarcastically.

While complaining about other people complaining may be worthless, complaining about problems can be significantly beneficial. If no one complained about how Windows Vista, Windows Mobile, and Windows Zune were so terrible, Microsoft would not have... well, Windows 7 and Windows Phone. Which are two vastly improved products from the previous generations. Microsoft definitely made it easy to nag about those products though.

With the Internet, mainly Facebook and Twitter, it's easier than ever to complain about anything. And with the web being so public, it's more valuable than ever before to listen to your customers. Or the consequences will be harsh that may lead to lost of current and potential customers. Apple built their empire based on this, with great service at the numerous Apple Stores and even on the phone. But I feel like the customer service from Apple has decreased in excellence with waiting at the Apple store and phone for longer but this was expected with the growing users (Which really shouldn't help). The prime example of Apple listening to their customers, is the iPod Nano 3rd generation. Yeah, it was terrible.

Without people complaining about every aspect of a product, the evolution of technology would not be as fast as it currently is. Feedback from users may be the most valuable thing that a company can use. But you need those engineers to listen to those complaints in order to improve their products. So for you engineers out there, for every complaint you make, listen to a complaint and try to fix it. It will make this world a much better place.