"They still raved and raved about that software because it solved an extremely valuable problem for them. A job that took literally a week could now be done in minutes."
This is a big point isn't it.
We seem to think that customers are choosing "slow" over "fast", when a lot of times they are really choosing between "slow" vs "manual" (i.e. very very slow)
You’d always take a bike instead of walking if you can’t get a car. No one is looking to waste time when they need to get something done. If a tool is the only thing in town, they’ll praise it. Until your competitor came with something better in the way that matter.
I do not doubt that if customers had a choice between "slow" and "fast", all things being equal customers will pick "fast". Customers aren't stupid.
But in a surprising number of cases, either customers don't have that choice (because the market hasn't provided a "fast" solution yet), or all things are not equal (say, the fast solution is fast because it's missing features that are crucial).
And this is why it always looks like customers are content with poorly-performing solutions.
This is a big point isn't it.
We seem to think that customers are choosing "slow" over "fast", when a lot of times they are really choosing between "slow" vs "manual" (i.e. very very slow)