Squeaky Wheels

This morning I chatted with colleagues who just returned from the ESRI User Conference. Their notes from the closing session indicated that Jack Dangermond seemed to address most of the big concerns prior to the question and answer period. Because of the Preconference Survey and feedback in the message system during the conference, ESRI seemed pretty well in tune with the desires of GIS professionals. My colleagues mentioned that several times during the question and answer period Jack restated an audience member’s comment to the entire audience to find that only 5% of the people agreed with the proposed position. With quantitative feedback mechanisms available using the Internet, companies don’t have to respond to squeaky wheels since they’ve already got a good handle on their users’ concerns and values. That’s good news for the silent majority who’ve quietly cursed the squeaky wheels around us. As an aside, I believe that squeaky wheels make up a higher percentage of today’s blogosphere than “meatspace”. With time, the squeaky wheels will be balanced by the majority who will no longer remain silent.