The work of others
Recently, a bunch of former Google Answers Researchers launched Uclue, an affordable paid Q&A/Research service. It’s somewhat similar to what Google Answers was - you ask your question, set a price, and wait to see whether a researcher can supply your answer (you get a refund if they can’t).
We couldn’t have launched successfully without the enormous help received from the Uclue researchers, who worked hard on design, testing and marketing.
Even more striking, though, was the help we received from those not participating as Uclue researchers. Dozens took the time, unprompted, to submit detailed and helpful feedback about the operation of the site. We received many great suggestions, and are still only part-way through implementing them.
And it didn’t stop there. A software product manager provided some unsolicited but useful insight into aspects of our business model.
We got help with the visual aspects too. The base software package that we are customising, AskPert, uses a rather basic table-based layout:
A less-than-charitable Digg commenter took one look at this and asked whether we had employed “the CraigsList design team”! Another Digger with username soiq was more constructive, and designed us a new layout:
All he wanted, he said jokingly, was a year of Uclue membership in exchange for the PSD files.
We received another unprompted redesign too, this time from Philipp Lenssen (publisher of Google Blogoscoped):
And that’s the design we decided to use.
So, as the site and the service come together, it really is due not only to our work, but also to the work of others. Thanks everyone!