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9
  • +1 I can relate to everything you said. I was in a similar position a few weeks ago. Now we don't have phone but they knock the door anyway, even for stuff like:"hey guys, have you seen X around?" geez! Commented Jan 12, 2011 at 0:40
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    You can set aside 'office hours' to avoid the interruptions. On call support is not a good idea. Commented Jan 12, 2011 at 0:43
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    Agreed, also, semi-dysfunctional programmers don't make very good support people :) Commented Jan 12, 2011 at 1:30
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    This a poor answer in my opinion. A Dev who NEVER does support can never learn how their decisions affect the user, good or bad. Just watching someone try to use the software can be a major wake up call, even if you think it's matching the specs. There are ways to mitigate the negative parts of it, rotating schedules amoung devs, help desk to handle the weedout calls so you are only supporting your app, etc. If you have a dev that 'is dysfunctional', have to wonder how useful they really are if they can't even talk to the user. Supervise if necessary, so they can learn. Commented Jan 12, 2011 at 20:39
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    @BryanOakley: have a plan that will get tech support. While I still support my answer, it is unrealistic to expect a start up to have all personnel necessary for adequate customer support and development. I would still recommend that a developer's primary task is development - not customer support. The problem is that when a developer has close ties to a customer, the developer will either: (a) always be contacted directly by the customer instead of proper tech channels, or (b) end up developing specifically for that customer's needs rather than the broad scope of necessary development. Commented Jul 12, 2013 at 18:28