The final 5 percent - let this be a lesson for Steinberg.

[Ricardo79]

@pkmusic

Let me pass on something to Steinberg: in project management, this disaster of an update is well known, as a classic “final 5%” failure. The final 5% is what matters. The mechanic fixes the car, but leaves a screwdriver under the hood. The plumber fixes the tap, but leaves a mess in the kitchen. The customer will forget all the good stuff - they only see the failure.

On projects, the fix for this is to get a fresh team to begin work about 4 weeks before the deadline. They look at everything for the first time. They see what other people cannot see. This has been done with everything from software, to hydro-electric dams. Once you’ve worked on something for so long - it’s like a mix you can no longer evaluate objectively. But the fix is there. Don’t let the same team do the release. They will miss the obvious.

Try it out. You might learn something about customer satisfaction in the process, because you just washed your reputation down the drain, which is a shame.

Thanks to the OP for starting this discussion. There are some interesting ideas dispersed throughout this thread. I certainly feel for those who were disadvantaged or hurt economically by the problem. There is no getting around the fact that it was a significant issue for some of our fellow Cubase users. It may be that Cubase can do something for those who were harmed.

1. I am not sure that the proposed “5% solution” would have identified this issue. It certainly would increase costs for Steinberg which would have to be passed on. I, like many others on this forum, have experience with QA for software, product and/or process development and it seems to me for non-life threatening products like this the extra cost does not seem justified; I am not interested in paying more.

2. It is probably true that the Covid-19 pandemic has lead to many of us working more at our computers and so the rush of users to update was a bit unusual. It is unusual, but predictable human behaviour, so it could have been foreseen and the damage mitigated. I wonder if other software companies have had similar problems. It is a good idea for everyone to get the word out so this issue isn’t repeated elsewhere.

3. Simply stated, the usual software development and release schemes seem to rely on good programming followed by Alpha and Beta testing and repair. I also believe that Steinberg should adopt a “Public Beta” phase which last for ~2 weeks. They would offer Cubase to those who have the time and the inclination to assist and then release to the general public. This is a much broader dissemination into the community than the Beta test phase and would be self-nominating.

In any case, I will continue to treat the first month after release as a Public Beta phase and update in December as I try to do most of the time.

Cheers,
Ricardo79