NI Week Idea Exchange Vote

[Phillip Brooks]

I won't be at NI Week, but I had an idea.

What if NI were to take the top 10 or so ideas from the Idea Exchange and allow attendees to vote by show of hands, robot controlled ping-pong ball machine or stones in a pile.

The top voted idea would be assigned to a group and delivered in the next product cycle.

I feel lately that the only Idea Exchange entries that get any attention at all are the easy "low hanging fruit" ones.

Why not listen to the community more? I don't need VeriStand, a G to C Code generator or web based SilverLight tools.

I DO need things like SSL/SSH and Amish controls...

[asbo]

Maybe you should post this on the Idea Exchange?

[Ton Plomp]

What if registered users with a SSP got 4 votes per product (LabVIEW/DIADEM/....), that could be put into an extra pile.

Let NI choose every year 10 promising ideas that can be implemented. Let the paying customers decide (sent everybody an email or whatsoever) what to implement.

Ton

[Phillip Brooks]

Maybe you should post this on the Idea Exchange?

I would, but only a dozen or so people would vote for it and it would disappear like all the other GOOD ideas

[Mads]

"What if NI were to take the top 10 or so ideas from the Idea Exchange..."

But that's part of the problem with the Idea Exchange kudos system; the top 10 ideas *are* low hanging fruits with minor impact already. The good ideas (as in; will significantly improve the power of LabVIEW and the products we can make with it) hide in the middle and even lower ranks.

The current top ten ideas yet to be implemented or declined are:

1. Wait (ms) with error pass-throu​gh

2. Show hidden controls as "ghosts" in edit mode

3. A faster & neater way to show Cluster Element Labels

4. Probes for Loop Iteration

5. Selection of Items on BD or FP needs to be Easier!

6. Some indication that a string control isn't showing the entire string.

7. Align objects should not align increment/​decrement buttons

8. Same Height of Unbudle by Name / Terminal / Local Variable

9. Include LabVIEW Version Number in Applicatio​n Icon

10. Smaller Event Ref Constants

Of these ten only number 6 will be of any direct use to the end-user (unless the developer *is* the end user and/or the development itself constitutes the majority of time spent on the application).

None of them are "killer apps".

[Phillip Brooks]

But that's part of the problem with the Idea Exchange kudos system; the top 10 ideas *are* low hanging fruits with minor impact already. The good ideas (as in; will significantly improve the power of LabVIEW and the products we can make with it) hide in the middle and even lower ranks.

I guess I should have defined low-hanging fruit as ideas that can be implemented with lower effort or scope on the part of NI.

I love simple things like the smaller T/F constant but I have to say that almost everything that has been completed is primarily IDE / cosmetic or a fix to a CAR. We did get a new feature that was of high value (thank you Stephen!)

The Idea Exchange is what, about three years old now? That gives us two cycles of reviewing suggestions, selecting, developing, testing and release.

What we've received is nice, but I'm concerned about features I mentioned before. If these are on the roadmap but might not make the next release cycle then please at the very least mark them as In Development. Then all you need to do is listen to me complain that I haven't seen any progress .

Maybe NIWeek / LV 2012 will surprise me. (didn't have time to participate in the beta this year so I have no idea of whats coming)

Edited July 20, 2012 by Phillip Brooks

[hooovahh]

But that's part of the problem with the Idea Exchange kudos system; the top 10 ideas *are* low hanging fruits with minor impact already. The good ideas (as in; will significantly improve the power of LabVIEW and the products we can make with it) hide in the middle and even lower ranks.

The current top ten ideas yet to be implemented or declined are:

1. Wait (ms) with error pass-throu​gh

2. Show hidden controls as "ghosts" in edit mode

3. A faster & neater way to show Cluster Element Labels

4. Probes for Loop Iteration

5. Selection of Items on BD or FP needs to be Easier!

6. Some indication that a string control isn't showing the entire string.

7. Align objects should not align increment/​decrement buttons

8. Same Height of Unbudle by Name / Terminal / Local Variable

9. Include LabVIEW Version Number in Applicatio​n Icon

10. Smaller Event Ref Constants

I'll admit that the current top 10 has no killer apps, but it has several things that I would use on a daily basis to help me save time, either in development, or to better document my own code.

I have also seen some good ideas with not much attention. LAVA is a decent sized community, and if we collectively see something we want in LabVIEW, NI will notice hopefully implement it. Let me be clear I'm not saying we should all band together and vote for one thing, I'm saying that if an idea is truly a good idea, and it doesn't have much attention, post about it here and let the community decide.

[Phillip Brooks]

This list of 10 things might make LabVIEW a bit nicer for me as an NI customer, but I see nothing that helps me make my product better for my users...

[ShaunR]

This list of 10 things might make LabVIEW a bit nicer for me as an NI customer, but I see nothing that helps me make my product better for my users...

I'm always afraid that if they did introduce something awesome enough to make me upgrade from LV2009; they would stick it in a toolkit

Edited July 20, 2012 by ShaunR

[hooovahh]

I'm always afraid that if they did introduce something awesome enough to make me upgrade from LV2009; they would stick it in a toolkit

I went from 2009 to 2011 so I'm not sure which neat new features are from 2010 or 2011. The changes for me aren't some thing I can't live without, but I do use some of the newer features all the time.

[ShaunR]

I went from 2009 to 2011 so I'm not sure which neat new features are from 2010 or 2011. The changes for me aren't some thing I can't live without, but I do use some of the newer features all the time.

Well. Probably 2010 because 2011 was supposed to be a "stability and performance" update (which when compared to 2009.....wasn't ) rather than a "look at all these cool features" update. (I'm not holding my breath for 2012 either )

[asbo]

I have also seen some good ideas with not much attention. LAVA is a decent sized community, and if we collectively see something we want in LabVIEW, NI will notice hopefully implement it. Let me be clear I'm not saying we should all band together and vote for one thing, I'm saying that if an idea is truly a good idea, and it doesn't have much attention, post about it here and let the community decide.

For a while now, there's been a thread for Idea Exchange promotion and every now and then you see someone post their own thread about a specific. In general, I think people around here are pretty vocal but it's more rare that someone comes up with an idea that buckets of people can get behind.

[Wouter]

C++ Templates for labview plzzzz

[Cat]

I'll admit that the current top 10 has no killer apps, but it has several things that I would use on a daily basis to help me save time, either in development, or to better document my own code.

Exactly. Anything that helps me code more efficiently (and several of the top ten items would) is beneficial to my end user.