Getting feedback from your users

When working on a product, one of the most valuable things you can do is get feedback from your users as to whether the software you have built meets their requirements or not, and what their opinions of it are. You will notice that in TFS terminology, the word "stakeholder" is used over "user"—representing the diverse sources of feedback that exist. Besides traditional users, several groups want their voice heard—including design, QA, and the product owner's funding development.

Even if you have a process that defines clear acceptance criteria for requirements, and you have a clear definition of what it means to be "done" with a piece of work, you still want feedback from these stakeholders to determine whether there are any other points that may have been missed when the requirement was first discussed, or if new ideas have occurred now that they have seen the software running.

A normal feedback process involves telling your users that the software is available...