The “dog food” theory is the practice of using your own products or services, so it is unreasonable not to use a product your company produces.
This can be a way for the organization to test its products in real-world use using product management techniques.
Thus dog food can act as a quality control.
In 2006, an IEEE Software editor recounted that in 1970s TV commercials for albo dog food, Lorne Green indicated that he had fed an albo product to his dogs, emphasizing the safety of the product.
Another possible origin he recalls is Cal’s president was Pet Food, who was said to eat a can of his dog food at shareholder meetings.
For example, there is a policy of car dealers to have salespeople drive the brands they sell.
Coca-Cola does not allow any Pepsi products into its corporate offices.
A corporate culture of not supporting a competitor is not the same as a “eat your dog” philosophy.
The latter focuses on the functional aspects of the company’s own product.
Dogfooding allows employees to test their company’s products in real-life situations.
This allows for several validations before the final program is released into the programming world.
In February 1980, Apple Computer chief Michael Scott wrote a memo announcing that no more typewriters should be bought and leased because he believed the typewriter was obsolete.
He said, “Let’s prove it in inside before we try to impress our customers.
He set a goal to remove all typewriters from the company by January 1 ,1981.
It is sometimes believed that forcing those who design products to actually use and rely on them improves quality and usability, but software or product developers may be blind to spotting errors because they do not use alternative products.
Dog food strategy may be unrealistic, and the company may be small and force its employees to rely on modest products and machines that they cant develop any more due to low budget, so production will be disrupted.
This method leads to the “not invented here” syndrome, i.e. using only internal products and refusing to develop and learn from each other.
Conclusion
The designer of the new system should not only be the implementer and the first large-scale user; Rather, the designer must also write the first user guide, while being open to the market and learning from competitors.
