Almost nobody else in engineering did this.
What you described is the job of a product manager. Are there no PMs at Google?
What you described is the job of a product manager. Are there no PMs at Google?
That said, interpreting user feedback is a multi-role job. PMs, UX, and Eng should be doing so. Everyone has their strengths.
One of the most interesting things I've had a chance to be a part of is watching UX studies. They take a mock (or an alpha version) and put it in front of an external volunteer and let them work through it. Usually PM, UX, and Eng are watching the stream and taking notes.
When you get to a company that's that big, the roles are much more finely specialized.
I forget the title now, but we had someone who interfaced with our team and did the whole "talk to customers" thing. Her feedback was then incorporated into our day-to-day roadmap through a complex series of people that ended with our team's product manager.
So people at Google do indeed do this, they just aren't engineers, usually aren't product managers, frequently are several layers removed from engineers, and as a consequence usually have all the problems GP described.
It's why the GP got that confused reaction about reading user reports. Talk to someone outside big company who has no power? Why?
If companies didn’t want that sort of incentive structure to play out then they would insulate employees from the whims of their bosses with things like contracts or golden parachutes that come out of their leaderships budget.
They pretty much don’t though, so you need to please your leadership first to get through the threat of at will employment, before considering anything else.
If you’re lucky what pleases your leadership is productive and if your super lucky what pleases them even pleases you.
Gotta suck it up and eat shit or quit if it doesn’t though