I ran across a link to TargetProcess today and I thought I’d check it out.  All I knew about it was that it is some kind of “agile tool.”

I visit the website and it looks promising.  Clean graphics, simple usable navigation:

All I want to do is see what it is, what it looks like, and whether I think that it’s worth investigating further.  With my typical attention span, a given product better impress me within 15-30 seconds, otherwise I’m off to do something more productive.  First impressions are everything.  The last thing you want to do is waste a potential customer’s time.

So I click on See.  I’d rather see some screenshots than try a demo.  The first option on that small page is Try the Demo.  Umm, okay I’ll try the demo then.  The demo page says that any username and password will work.  Great, that will save me time and not get in my way.  I click on the demo.

 It asks me to submit my name, company, and email address.  I enter in random garbage.  (At this point they don’t deserve my info because I don’t know yet if I’m interested!  I can understand that they want some usage information and the ability to generate leads, but come on!  Wait until I’m excited first!).  The email address needs to be validated.  I change asdf to asdf@aol.com.

 Ah, finally the demo (1 minute 30 seconds after I initially viewed their page).  I try to login with my standard set of credentials:  asdf/asdf.

 ERROR.

Hrm, and exception was thrown while logging in.  Not a good sign.  At least they were nice enough to let me notify them without opening my email client.  I click on the Notify Support button.

ERROR.

At this point I am thoroughly annoyed.  I have wasted about 3 minutes (now more like 10 since I felt the need to write this blog post J ).

 I eventually went back and looked at the screenshots and ended up a little intrigued.  I saw what the app looks like, I saw how it allows me to manage an agile project and collect the information and display the metrics I am likely to care about.  Really the screenshots were their best sales tactic, not the online demo.

 Hopefully they will fix this soon so that other potential buyers won’t shy away from their product too early.  It would be a shame because it looks like a useful tool.

 The bottom line:  Your customers are impatient.  Don’t waste their time.  Don’t shoot yourself in the foot with a live demo if the live demo doesn’t work.

UPDATE:  I was able to figure out from the error that the issue is a unique value violation.  Apparently a lot of people type in a username of ‘asdf.’  Type in a unique name and it will work.