Innovation Games: Creating Breakthrough Products Through Collaborative Play

The Apprentice Is Not Dogfooding

Dogfooding means that a company uses the products it makes. This is a great idea, for a number of reasons (see the entry in Wikipedia for the details). However, The Apprentice is not Dogfooding. One reason is that there are many times when the product team can't Dogfood, such as when they're making a component that is a part of another product or creating products for a business or professional context that does not match their own. An even more important reason, and the key point of differentiation between The Apprentice and Dogfooding, is that when you're Dogfooding you're doing your job using your product. In The Apprentice, you're putting yourself into your customers' environment, doing their job, in their context, with your product and any other related products. The end result is a deeper and more empathetic understanding of the challenges your customer faces and how your product helpsor hinderstheir work.