Dislike the changes to the Princess website

[SeaTheWorldBySea]

I am impressed - again - by Princess response to customers. Now I can continue my compulsive Princess cruise shopping without the hassle of a destination requirement.

 

I sent a note of appreciation using the feedback form on their website.

[shastatroy]

Thanks to everyone who posted their dislike and for contacting Princess. Thanks to Princess to listening to your loyal customers and correcting the problem.

[bdjam]

Someone speculated that the IT function is outsourced. My experience in the past with outsourcing is that the outside company used really has no feel for your business, its requirements, or how changes will affect the user experience.

 

Exactly.

[RetiredNTraveling]

This is why we prefer Princess Cruise Lines. They listen to their customers and take care of issue either on line or on cruises. :)

[CRUZER2012]

As an IT Professional - as opposed to computer nerd - I can only comment that depending on the objective of the website, a user's idea of what works isn't always something that can be achieved. Logic can be a tricky thing.

 

That being said, both Princess and the US Government contract their IT operations out (BTW President Obama more than likely had nothing to do with the IT organization choice for the Affordable Care Act). Whether or not they clearly communicate their requirements to the contractor and whether or not the contractor clearly understands their requirements makes a difference as to the end results. And all those corporations offshoring their IT work in order to minimize the cost of their infrastructure take a major risk by doing so.

 

The best bet - besides being sarcastic - is to give Princess feedback so that they can incorporate changes in their next software release.

 

 

I am a retired IT professional who has developed many software applications. It is important not to give the IT personnel all the credit or any of the blame for the results. In the final analysis, the customer who pays the bills is ultimately responsible for the end result. It is called Customer Acceptance Testing. Whoever did this final testing failed to do their job, misunderstood the requirements, or got what they wanted.

 

In the case of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) website, I have learned that the project was affected by Scope Creep (customer adding requirements late in the development lifecycle) and a lack of Adequate Testing. Both are well known factors that adversely affect the final product. Customer control of IT functions in large organizations is not positioned at the top. Let's hope that any problems in the ACA and Princess websites will be corrected quickly.