Seems @FreeRangeHuman might have been onto something with their constructive criticism here.
The one thing I wish had been done differently here is that you didn’t pass that bite onto the customer. You set the expectation of an update during a time period then didn’t provide it until after someone asked about that time period passing. Also the update you have provided is a post in a thread not related to where you set that expectation nor in the location people expecting you to meet the expectation you set for yourself would be looking (the blog).
The big things that are different between making this as a post in this thread vs a blog post/the thread where you set the expectation is visibility. And as a forum moderator you do have the option of unlocking said thread, posting that same post, and re-locking the thread if you don’t want to have the conversation continue in that thread.
This isn’t meant to be an attack, just my feedback in a hopefully constructive way to hopefully improve things for all parties.
It’s challenging to satisfy everyone when you get conflicting requests. Some people want transparency and immediate updates and immediate feedback to questions in the forum, and if I don’t reply, then people read into it or then say I’m not being transparent. Yet being transparent sometimes ends up meaning sharing pretty raw info that I have, and that info sometimes changes.
On the other hand, other people only want information when it’s 100% known not to change. That used to be how we approached sharing information up until fall 2019, but then the majority of folks in the community encouraged us to err on the side of disclosing more information, more often, even if that information might change, because to quote some of the folks “We are adults, we understand information might change.”
So reconciling those conflicting demands, along with the continual demands we get from folks to estimate when things will ship, estimate when the next update will come out, etc. means walking this tightrope of sharing information that could change.
Regardless of how we walk that tightrope, there will be some information we don’t share for whatever reason (like we feel it’s too unreliable, or we just don’t know the answer) and will be criticized for lack of transparency. On the other hand there will be other information that we have some degree of confidence in, and share, that changes, and we will be criticized for being wrong.
It’s certainly easier to go back to the old way of doing it. I’d personally prefer it as it’s definitely easier on me. But being easier on me isn’t enough of a reason to do something. Each time I suggest that in the forum (based on similar conversations to what we are having now) the feedback I get is that people would still prefer the current approach to communication, even if it means we share information that might change.
At this point my plan (a plan is not a promise, it’s something that is subject to change if the situation changes) is to post a blog update when the laptops hit the fulfillment center and also email that blog update out to Librem 14 pre-orders.
I understand and agree with the core challenge. I do think there is a middle ground in some scenarios where sharing that you don’t have reliable information (preferably referencing why the information isn’t reliable enough to share when feasible) may be better than sharing unreliable information as well as better than sharing nothing at all.
A plan may not be a promise but it does set an expectation/goal. This particular plan, seems like one that doesn’t set an expectation beyond “once we have the devices we’ll update you that we have them” which I do think is better than “we’ll update you in X days”.
I do think that (especially earlier on in this process) an update like “I’ll update you when the shipments arrive OR in X days (10 as an example)” with that following update being the “touch” to let people know they haven’t been forgotten and that you’re still waiting for the laptops to arrive.
I think this approach sets an expectation of what milestone we’re willing to share that we’re waiting on (transparency) as well as when we’ll update even if the milestone isn’t reached by that date which let’s the more moderate people know that they haven’t been forgotten/ignored (rebuilding some of the trust that’s been damaged from not meeting self imposed expectations).
No, not everyone will be happy; but I do think that this middle ground would please more people (granted I only have the visibility of the forums not any emailscalls/etc you receive) and be easier on you.
I do greatly appreciate the change from pre-2019 and while I have opinions on how things could continue to improve I do see that improvement has been made.
How many batches are there going to be? Like once shipping starts will they all go pretty fast or will there be big delays? Like if you were a later pre-order are you still months out or are the differences fairly minor?
another way of saying this: roughly how long between the first pre-ordered laptop going and the last?
That’s what we term “shipping parity” – the moment that we are caught up with backlog on a product and new orders ship from current inventory within our standard 10-business-day window. We very much want to reach shipping parity as soon as possible.
You can see our current estimate for that on the shop page for the Librem 14 where we estimate when an order placed today would ship. Currently it says “ships in May” and based on current order backlog, even with the delays, I still think this is feasible.
We keep an eye on those estimates and try our best to update them based on the calendar and based on new orders. As April progresses we might have to update that eventually for new orders depending on how many new orders come in. In the past we’ve seen spikes in orders once we announce we are shipping something that was previously a pre-order–some people wait for that threshold before ordering–so if we see something similar here it might end up being early June before we reach shipping parity as that surge in new orders would of course increase the backlog. If that happens we’ll update the shop.
At the moment our estimate is that an order placed today would still ship within May, which means orders placed before today would have been shipped beforehand.
Ah, yes, the challenges of public communications. For what it’s worth - I appreciate the communications. And I believe I am not alone in that regard. So thanks. It’s a thankless job there’s at least one.
Ya they’re here. They’ll be at our fulfillment center within a couple hours. Blog post will go out later today after we take some nice pictures, and corresponding email will probably go out Monday.
I wasn’t entirely sure if you guys had gotten the 3 cell batteries yet for those who have ordered and filled both m2 slots. If not, any idea when the 3 cell batteries will arrive?
While I understand they’re saying all laptops, I also never saw anything from them that made mention of actually receiving the 3 cell batteries. So actual confirmation from them about this would be helpful.
Even though I’m hoping for my email this week or next week at the latest, I suppose I should stop checking my email for the delivery address confirmation every 20 minutes or so
Hah,same here. I did place my order a bit late,october 2020 i believe and both m.2 slots are occupied so how that will work with the 3/4 cell battery situation i dont know. I recieved a high end lenovo laptop that was offered to my brother by his employer so i am atleast not waiting empty handed which helps with being patient… i only check every 24 hours
atleast some people will soon have theirs in hand and i can vicariously through their posts or videos, enjoy the laptop and just leave it to the RNG of the pandemic tech market to eventually arrange things just so ,and i will have my order too.
Until then, everything up to and including sacrificial offerings to the techno-gods are on the table… i have an old server tower. Thinking of burning it in a ritual lol. ( J/K … unless? ).
Well just checked the Purism site, and it still says orders placed today ship in May, so they still seem to be planning on having all the preorders shipped before then. So, IMO, we should both be able to rest easy that we will have our laptops (or at least shipped to us) on or before May 31. So counting down, six weeks or less I guess seems reasonable.
