[Elecraft] Open Letter to 'HHQ / On Drinking the Kool-Aid and Other Things

[Steve Sacco NN4X]

I've been licensed since 1977.  Never been part of one of these radio 
cult things.

Never drank the Kool-Aid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kool-Aid for 
those who don't "get" the reference).  I once owned a Ten-Tec Omni VI 
for a couple of weeks.  Sold it: had lots of quirks nobody would talk 
about, and the factory denied.  Definitely some kind of cult thing 
going on over there.

Didn't realize what I was getting into when I ordered a K3.  Lucky 
for me that ownership (or at least "ownership in theory", since I'm 
still waiting) doesn't obligate me to become a member.

Lots of Kool-Aid being passed around here on 
elecraft at mailman.qth.com, and lots of takers.  It scares me, just a bit.

Me?  I never liked the stuff.

There's a difference between a radio and a religion.  That's never 
been a problem for me.

The Drinkers of the Kool-Aid will tolerate lots of bizarre 
preachin'.  It's like they NEED to be able to identify with something.

Can you BELIEVE that people BOUGHT the line of bull that David Koresh 
spewed, to use a different cult example?  Simply amazing!

Same thing with politics!  Democrats, this, Republicans, that!  Blah 
blah blah.  They'll say ANYTHING to get you to vote for them (and 
hopefully, donate to their campaign.  "Harumph!", I say!

You ever look at those sorry, greasy politicians in office, and 
wonder to yourself whether you would prefer whether 1) they were 
lying in their teeth to us, or, 2) just honestly THAT incompetent?

I do.  All the time.  I've been wondering it for years, and never 
HAVE come to a conclusion as to which is worse.

What do YOU think, Eric?  Lying, or Incompetence - which is worse?

Now, onto the subject of K3's...

To be totally, brutally, honest, I'm happy for you and the folks at 
Elecraft that orders have been so outstanding!  Congratulations are 
"on" order, but won't be delivered until some undetermined time in 
the future...you know how it goes!  There's the gift vendors, the 
gift box vendors,  the wrapping paper people, the greeting card 
company...the list goes on and on.  It's like herding cats, for 
goodness sake! (sorry, I couldn't resist) With the exception of the 
mint, Sherwood-ized C-Line in my closet, my K3 will be the first 
American made rig I've ever had.

There are several issues I have with the way Elecraft has handled the 
K3 rollout. They could easily have been avoided, and much angst would 
have been prevented.

1) The K3 was released before it was ready.  Seriously.  This is 
soooo obvious.  Even now, Elecraft is still making 
ridiculously  frequent changes to the firmware.  This indicates that 
it's still in development (probably "Alpha" level?), even after all 
these months.  I'm a software developer.  I know about these 
things.  Even more indicative that there was no chance that the K3 
would be released on schedule, and that Elecraft knew it, is that the 
hardware noise blanker was only completed just a week or so before 
Elecraft was promising to begin shipping the first batch.  There was 
another tidbit about the front panels, right about the same time, if 
I recall.  CLEARLY, OBVIOUSLY, Elecraft KNEW well in advance of that, 
that they wouldn't be shipping radios, because they didn't have any 
ready to ship.   Add in all the vendor/supplier issues, and it was a 
no-brainer: Nothing was going to ship when promised.  It had to have 
been obvious, because if it wasn't, what was the other 
possibility?  We both know the answer to that, and I cannot believe 
it to be true.    Not cool.

2) At any time, Elecraft, facing this inrush of orders which they 
couldn't handle, could have STOPPED TAKING ORDERS until the 
production line was smoothed out.  If not that, the anticipated 
shipping date could have been moved FAR OUT, to make it obvious to a 
perspective customer that they should have (very) low expectations, 
and respecting them enough to share that information with them, 
knowing that some would make other arrangements.

I admire the nice full page, full color K3 advertisement in each 
month's QST, and think "Someday, you will be mine...someday...", and 
then I let out a little sigh. (but I never cry) Meanwhile, more folks 
order, based on wildly inaccurate shipping estimates.  Not cool.

3) In the middle of an obviously chaotic and frenzied buildout of the 
K3 production line, you left the scene, to go to Japan, to sell MORE 
radios that you already couldn't build fast enough!  Oh,yes - you 
were so busy doing that, you didn't have time to update the status 
for the current folks on the hook with orders.  I know that, because 
you specifically told me, here on this reflector.   Not cool.

4) Even after promising weekly updates, that hasn't happened.  It's 
not that hard, really.  After all, we're your customers.  Real 
customers, who've laid down $$$ and rock-solid orders, not 
tire-kickers.  Why doesn't Elecraft respect us?   Is it too much to 
ask?  If it's not too much to ask, but yet not being done, what's the 
other possibility?  I cannot believe it to be true.  Not cool.

5) Operational details (misbehaving vendors, laborious test and 
alignment procedures, etcetera) are interesting (no sarcasm intended 
- I really DO think they're interesting!!), but are not my problem, 
if you've happily accepted my order (especially with a down payment), 
particularly if my order was based on intentionally inaccurate 
delivery date estimates.  I say "intentionally", because it is within 
Elecraft's power to better predict and update that 
information.  Every day, Elecraft makes the decision to update it, or 
not, when it's inaccurate.  If it's wrong, and the decision is made 
to leave it wrong, that's "intentional".  Not cool.

I understand that Elecraft, with an outstanding line of products, and 
support to go with it, has build a large reserve of goodwill with The 
Believers.  Some of us Non-Believers, observing that, decided to 
purchase a K3 based upon that reputation, and nothing else.

That, sir, is Trust.  Let me share with you that many of the folks 
who are purchasing the K3 - serious contesters and DXers, are 
heathens!  We bought a radio which we hope to be an outstanding 
performer, NOT a ticket for a good seat in the pews.   If the K3 
doesn't pan out, off to the QTH.COM classifieds it goes (Note plug 
for Scott's classifies, and not those other places), and we're off 
buying something else, and we don't have heavy hearts, or feel that 
we've betrayed the family, or anything like that.  We don't tolerate 
Happy Talk, or long, detailed stories about why they can't meet the 
expectations they themselves have set for us.

We're results driven, period.

Elecraft has a very good thing going with this "open communication" 
mailing list thing.  Here's some advice: Don't screw it up.

When in doubt, think "UPOD": Under Promise, Over Deliver.

Please take this correspondence with the spirit in which is was 
crafted - from someone who's excited by the potential of the K3, 
proud that it is coming from an American manufacturer, and very much 
wants Elecraft to be successful - but not at the price of being taken 
for a fool.

73 and Happy Holidays, and I mean that sincerely,

Steve NN4X
EL98jh




















At 02:46 PM 12/13/2007, you wrote:
>Hi Julian,
>
>I apologize for the delays getting you (and everyone else) your K3. We
>are absolutely working as hard as possible to get K3s out the door
>quickly. Every time I see a complaint here (and elsewhere) about
>delivery delays, status accuracy etc., I take every posting very
>personally (especially those criticizing our veracity) and agonize over
>how we can improve things further.
>
>To be totally, and brutally, honest, we were absolutely amazed at the
>amount of orders we received at introduction of the K3. (We're not a
>venture capital financed company that can staff up and spend millions of
>dollars before shipping our first K3.) We certainly underestimated the
>ongoing response and have been playing catch up as we have added staff
>and vendors to meet the demand. This has strained not only our own
>staff, but that of our vendors too. They are doing a great job
>responding, but we are continually looking for additional resources. My
>day starts out -very- early with a review of what new issues and
>problems have to be addressed to keep production rolling and how we can
>improve our run rate. The term 'fire drill' is now permanently engraved
>on the back of my head ;-) Fire drills encompass everything from vendors
>not delivering parts and assembled PCBs on schedule, wrong or faulty
>parts received, key employees out sick, test and alignment taking longer
>than expected, pcb assembly errors at a vendor (requiring rework here),
>customers who personally want to talk with me etc. etc. All of this is a
>normal part of any product ramp up (I've been there before..), and it is
>getting better and more predictable daily. But it takes a lot of effort
>to make sure we increase our output -and- maintain our admittedly high
>quality standards.
>
>As we go forward our shipping estimates will continue to both increase
>in volume and get more accurate. I'm trying to be as honest and as
>conservative as possible with my current shipping estimates, and so are
>Lisa and her crew. But we're human too and will make mistakes or be over
>optimistic from time to time. It is very hard to accurately estimate
>delivery out past a 3-4 week window and I'm sure Lisa and crew have been
>pressured into guessing on some estimates. I'm actually trying to get to
>the point where we will regularly exceed our posted estimates. If my
>'fire drill' threshold is not exceeded this month I think we'll be there
>soon! :-)
>
>Our new order rate is strong (and increasing!) and we have had very few
>cancellations (I can count them on one hand), which has given us the
>confidence to spend even more on staffing, inventory and other
>resources. As K3s have gotten out into the field people are showing
>their rig to their friends and we're getting a lot of referral orders.
>We've now been able to increase our daily production rate ahead of the
>order rate, so my confidence is increasing that we're on the right track
>to keep everyone happy.
>
>As always, we will refund any deposits (and still keep an order active)
>and/or cancel anyone's order without delay should they feel the need to
>do so.
>
>Lastly, please stop arguing with each other here about what should or
>should not be said about K3 deliveries. We want the feedback. But also,
>please tone down the rhetoric and personal criticisms - we are human
>here too and we lose sleep over these postings.
>
>We're doing our best to make the K3 a superb rig and to get it out to
>you as quickly as possible. As always, please feel free to email me
>directly if you feel we have done or said anything you take issue with )
>or just want to vent! :-)
>
>73, Eric   WA6HHQ

  _.    _.   ...._   _.._   nn4x at embarqmail.com