Kratz said:
Dan,
If this testing information had been posted BEFORE the knives went on sale I doubt you would have any canceled orders. Folks had lots of questions about the durability of Busse 154CM before the knives were available. When there is little real information in the market and the first available testing information has an unexpectedly poor result, people will tend to assume the worst. I'm afraid that's just human nature.
I'm a marketer by profession and I market the new technology first and THEN the products that use the new technology. If the customer believes in the new technology then it's an easy leap to believe in the products that are based on the technology.
And thanks Dan for providing the great testing info.
Human engineering is generally thought to specialize in things like ergonomics. But there is a psychological aspect to human engineering as well. If a fighter pilot enters a dogfight while undergoing five G’s acceleration, the choices on his control panel and stick have to be easy. Not theoretically easy, but guaranteed easy for the human body-mind under that kind of stress. So do not expect the pilot to accommodate himself to a stupid dashboard. Build the plane to accommodate the nature of the pilot’s reactions under stringent conditions. Or else lose pilot and plain to an enemy with a control panel designed according to better principles of human engineering.
That’s the kind of psychological human engineering that Kratz is talking about. Follow the forum entries between the announcement of the “numbers and letters” steel and the release of the knives, and there was feverous speculation about the qualities of this new Busse Kin steel. Most of it veered towards expecting a stainless steel Excalibur, only better. What you had (metaphor alert!) was a supersaturated solution awaiting the first good information that would determine the shape of the new crystalline matrix. The first good information turned out to involve Horn Dog’s oak log.
What would you expect, in those conditions? The next time you do something like this, release the test results before you release the knives. That's what you did with the DogFather. That way you have control of the shape taken by the supersaturated solution. In the wake of the published torture tests, Vic’s broken tip would have been a blip on the radar, easily dealt with.
Private Klink said:
As someone pointed out, cancelled orders were most likely the result of the DMDC's not shipping as planned. Better communication really was in order but was lacking. THAT is the one area that could be improved upon for the benefit of the Yard and the Dogs. I hope the MudPuppies and BirdDogs will be available to everyone soon, and the S-7 not far behind! Tom
I wrote an entry about this subject that was more critical of the Yard than I ever expected to publish. I don’t apologize for what I wrote. If I see a friend seriously screwing the pooch, apparently without a clue to the damage he is doing himself, I will call him on it.
We had one release of the DMDC, with another release promised in three or four weeks. Four months later there is still no sign of the DMDC. Instead, two new knives are on offer. Apparently anybody who was in line for the new DM was welcome to hang himself in a closet and wait until Scrap Yard was good and ready to fulfill its promises. Dogs of the Yard, this is not businesslike. This is not professional behavior. This is not the way to build a good reputation as a reliable company. It gave me no pleasure to say this was not the done thing. But—this was not the done thing. Not among savvy businessmen. A good reputation is hard to gain and easy to lose.
I am nothing but pleased to see that Dan has been paying attention.
As for the poor communication with the DMDCs, you are painfully correct. We really dropped the ball on that one and are in the process of fixing the problem. With a ton of new models planned for the coming year we are hoping to have the kinks worked out very soon.
Again, I thank everyone for their continued patience and we will do our best to improve in the areas where we need attention.
Now, where's my bourbon?
Dan
As long as the Yard cleans up its act in these problematic areas, “Praise the Lord and pass the Jim Beam!”
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