Want to be a part of “The Development”? – Fact
Want to be a part of the development of Photoshop? You can by posting in the Adobe User to User Forums.
While not as “way–cool” as being a Photoshop alpha or beta tester, the ideas expressed by users in the Forum’s Feature Requests sections do get the attention of the Photoshop engineers. You CAN have an impact!
I’m often asked how to get in with the Photoshop engineers to become a beta tester. . .well, one of the ways to get the engineer’s attention is to make useful posts in the Feature Requests section of the User to User Forums. It won’t get you an automatic ticket to becoming a beta tester, but it is a way to help the Photoshop engineers to improve Photoshop.
Here are some tips and techniques I would offer when it comes to making suggestions for Photoshop:
-Don’t piss & moan dooode!
The Photoshop engineers have a -VERY- short attention span. By and large, if a post starts off as a rant, the engineers won’t read past the first few lines (unless you take a very funny approach to your moaning–the engineers love humor, particularly Photoshop humor).
-Don’t -EVER- ask for something that is already in the program!
Asking for something you don’t realize is already in Photoshop is a sure fire way of getting a dismissal from a Photoshop engineer. You need to know the program well enough to make suggestions for things that aren’t there yet!
-If you ask for something, take the time to explain why it’s important!
Posting a one-liner about “this would be cool to have in Photoshop” without any explanation of either the feature requested or the reasons why it would be useful, isn’t very useful.
-Be explicit in your request, but keep it on-point, don’t ramble!
See above: The Photoshop engineers have a -VERY- short attention span. Writing a long thesis in a web forum isn’t the best way to communicate to the engineers. Keep it short and concise–bullet points are real good. Did I mention that the engineers have a short attention span?
-Keep it realistic and reasonable–and don’t beat a dead horse
(unless you really hate dead horses) Asking for something that is ether totally unrealistic or something that’s been asked for by many others over the years isn’t really useful.
-Keep it USEFUL
The more users that can benefit from your idea, the more likely your idea will get traction with the engineers. Photoshop has many types of users from a wide variety of industry groups. If your ideas benefit a wide user base, the odds of your idea being adopted goes up dramatically. If your idea only helps -YOU- the odds go way down.
Be polite, be persistent, but be patient
You won’t get very far by being something a bit south of civil. Also understand that if you have a good idea, it may take a while for it to germinate-don’t give up. Due to the timing of Photoshop’s development cycles, there are times when the engineers (and the marketing folks) are actively searching for new ideas. There are other times when everybody is in “crunch mode” trying to wrap up development and ship a product. When they are jammin’ to get something done, your good ideas may simply be overlooked.
A real good time to be pitching new ideas is about 6 months after a major new upgrade is shipped. At that point, all the pain of the dev&ship process has been forgotten by the engineers and they start coming back up for air-that’s when it’s ideal to push your ideas.
To add your ideas to the mix, check out the User to User Forums:
Feature Requests–Macintosh
Feature Requests–Windows
Note: free registration is required to participate in the Adobe Forums.