Summary

There used to be a time at Microsoft when PSS (now CSS) was considered a thorn in the side of the developers. I have also seen this at smaller companies where I have consulted. Support is an afterthought, like builds. What took a long time to create at Microsoft and other successful companies that makes service a priority is this: a mind shift of how important customer or product support is to the development team. The support team should be brought into the product team's meetings early in the project's life cycle, not late in the process, such as when the product is in beta. Another reason why Microsoft views support as such an important part of development is that the support team is the one talking to the customers every day. I mean, who else would know better what the customers are thinking and saying about the products?