ROCKI Community Forums

[MFischlin]

1) A list of the current known issues with a priority list.
2) A roadmap for fixes and features with actual dates, not hopeful guesses.
3) Some schedule of communication from Rocki that is actually adhered to, whether it's once a week, once every other week, or once a month.
4) A public expected response time to support tickets, going over two weeks with no response is not acceptable.

Roger that @MFischlin. Let me pull all of that info together and i'll post it here. As for the communication, from now on I'll be keeping an eye out on the forum and help out where i can. Expect frequent updates and a much faster response on threads.

You are right @daglesj, we haven't updated our backers frequently enough about the latest developments. That was a mistake on our side and should not have happened. One of the main priorities now is to keep everyone informed. Starting from now, the forums will be monitored on the daily and frequent updates will be posted along with responses to the questions from the community.

It's been a week... any update on any of this information? And I'm up to three weeks with no response to my support ticket.

[Simon]

Hey @MFischlin!

We're working on a big update which will be released soon and will contain more info. We've just showed the ROCKI+ at CE week, will release DLNA support, update the multi-room performance, launch the iOS app and update the Android app in the coming weeks. Many cool things are about to happen!

As for your ticket, i have sent you a private message.

[MFischlin]

Hey @MFischlin!

We're working on a big update which will be released soon and will contain more info. We've just showed the ROCKI+ at CE week, will release DLNA support, update the multi-room performance, launch the iOS app and update the Android app in the coming weeks. Many cool things are about to happen!

As for your ticket, i have sent you a private message.

For me, the biggest issue is that while you've been active on the forums (and I do appreciate that), is that there's been no flow of information out at all. At a bare minimum, the known issue list should already exist in the office, and it should take a day or so to clean up and make public. If there isn't an internal list of known issues already, that points to a larger issue with the way that Rocki is handling a commercially released piece of hardware and software.

Even committing to a schedule of outbound communication shouldn't take a week. Even if the updates are simply letting us know that you're aware of the issues and are still working on them would (at least for me) provide some comfort that Rocki hasn't been left to die on the vine.

[Simon]

I am still working on getting the list out. We have a thread about the known issues here http://www.myrocki.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=14 but that one is quite outdated. I am doing my best to get it updated soon.

As for ROCKI being left out on a vine to die and the outbound communication, well... We have quite a team of passionate colleagues working to make ROCKI grow and we all want it to succeed. And while the communication isn't always what it should be, this doesn't mean that ROCKI is not advancing. Plenty of things are happening, most of them, we can't talk about yet for various reasons, but major things are about to happen! I will be posting all the info i have here on the forums, on FB and on the Kickstarter page. Starting with a big update in the coming days!

Thanks for the support!

[MFischlin]

I am still working on getting the list out. We have a thread about the known issues here http://www.myrocki.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=14 but that one is quite outdated. I am doing my best to get it updated soon.

As for ROCKI being left out on a vine to die and the outbound communication, well... We have quite a team of passionate colleagues working to make ROCKI grow and we all want it to succeed. And while the communication isn't always what it should be, this doesn't mean that ROCKI is not advancing. Plenty of things are happening, most of them, we can't talk about yet for various reasons, but major things are about to happen! I will be posting all the info i have here on the forums, on FB and on the Kickstarter page. Starting with a big update in the coming days!

Thanks for the support!

Seriously? That known issue list was a joke when it was first published. There's not even a mention of the various wireless issues that everyone has encountered (non-broadcast SSID, WEP key length, WPA key length, etc.). If the company doesn't have a real known issue list internally, then there are some very serious problems with how the Rocki dev team is managed.

I've laid out what my minimum is for continued support, of which, none of the 4 items are being met. If the company can't even put together a communication schedule, then how can I be expected to support it?

[daglesj]

Are we even out of beta testing yet?

I agree with MFischlin, I can't understand why the ROCKI team finds it so difficult to just let folks know what's going on on a weekly basis.

You have Twitter, you have the forum, you have the Kickstarter page, you have your own website. WHAT IS SO DIFFICULT?

Before the Kickstarter completed we were getting two to three updates a day almost. The target was reached and then.....nothing.

Total silence for weeks and weeks.

That's just bloody rude and unprofessional. ROCKI as a group are still being rude and unprofessional to backers and customers.
That's why we the customers now need to start posting up our honest experiences in trying to do business with ROCKI.

When the bad press starts rolling in, Nick and Dennis will have to take the blame. I see them in interviews saying how wonderful it's all been. Just a shame web journalism is so poor that no one bothers to do Google searches on what's really going on.

This isn't a hobby...it's business! Start acting the part!

[MFischlin]

Are we even out of beta testing yet?

I agree with MFischlin, I can't understand why the ROCKI team finds it so difficult to just let folks know what's going on on a weekly basis.

I'm not even asking for a weekly basis, I'd be fine with an update every other week, or on the 1st and 15th of the month, just some schedule that we knew about. Instead of being told that updates are coming "soon". "Soon" hasn't panned out so well for the iOS app, the Play+, the specialized Plays, or even the original Plays.

[daglesj]

It's certainly baffling that's for sure.

You wonder what the mentality is when a group have been told they need to keep customers informed many times and they agree....and then just continue to ignore everyone.

Delays, faults, issues etc. can all be managed and kept under control with decent communication. Its not like they are dealing with some revolutionary piece of tech. It's $8 worth of off the shelf parts at the end of the day.

They could have made sure everyone was aware we were all in a huge community Beta test programme and that we were all in this together to make sure ROCKI became a truly great product. Info, feedback and updates passing back and forth etc. etc. Could have been great fun.

But no they bunkered down like the usual corporate IT support dept. and squandered that opportunity.

[Simon]

We're glad to see that you are so eager to hear all the latest news from ROCKI. Our last official update dates from the 20th of June, which you can find here http://www.myrocki.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=547

The following one will be released tomorrow. We have more news about the multi room sync feature and about the music streaming services. You'll be able to find the release on Kickstarter and here in the "ROCKI News" section of the forum.

We will also start releasing a weekly update (every Wednesday from now on), to keep everyone up to date with the latest news as @MFischlin and @daglesj suggested.

As for giving more concrete dates of new releases and software updates, this can not always be done due to different factors. Some of our partners (think streaming services) do not wish us to communicate about them while in the development process. And thus, we hope you can understand that we have to respect our partners' wishes.

[MFischlin]

We're glad to see that you are so eager to hear all the latest news from ROCKI. Our last official update dates from the 20th of June, which you can find here http://www.myrocki.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=547

The following one will be released tomorrow. We have more news about the multi room sync feature and about the music streaming services. You'll be able to find the release on Kickstarter and here in the "ROCKI News" section of the forum.

We will also start releasing a weekly update (every Wednesday from now on), to keep everyone up to date with the latest news as @MFischlin and @daglesj suggested.

As for giving more concrete dates of new releases and software updates, this can not always be done due to different factors. Some of our partners (think streaming services) do not wish us to communicate about them while in the development process. And thus, we hope you can understand that we have to respect our partners' wishes.

So we're at one of the four criteria I put forward. Still nothing on the list of known issues, the roadmap of what's coming up, or anything dealing with support tickets.

Is there a project manager involved anywhere in this company? Estimates that are off by over 90 days are no longer an estimates as much as a hopeful guess. Take a look at the various delivery dates that have been promised and missed:

1) Shipping for the Play - Promised in January of 2014, happened in late Spring of 2014
2) iOS App - Expected April 2014, still hasn't been approved
3) Play Special Edition - Estimated in February of 2014, just shipped in late June of 2014
4) Play+ - Estimated in February of 2014, just reached prototype phase in June 2014.
5) Beta testing - Promised in December of 2013, still ongoing as of July 2014.