After I left Google in July, I heard that there was renewed effort around the project and that a new team was bringing some much-needed attention to the product. I expected them to give the product a facelift, and integrate G+ -- both things that needed to happen.

But killing off functionality that could have easily been built on top of G+, and missing the mark by so much on the UI... and then releasing them under the guise of improvements?

I'm not going to pile on Google for how it's managing its products or communicating with its users. Hell, at this point it's almost too easy. But there is one element I think is worth calling out as an example of what not to do with any product: kill - or cripple - functionality without adding equal or increased value *as perceived by the user*.

There's nothing abnormal or wrong about sunsetting product features. In the grand scheme of successfully managing a product, it's necessary to cut things that no longer deliver value to users. If we didn't do that, we'd be wrestling with an unwieldy monstrosity in very short time.

Where Google seemed to miscalculate (or simply not care, depending on who you ask) is when it came to screwing around with features with an almost casual disregard for the end user. Sure it makes sense to begin integrating Reader and other Google properties around G+ but it appears they did it to the detriment of the user's core experience. And with that, they've displayed an arrogance that may end up hurting them in the long-run. Better communication with users would clearly have helped.

And yet, there's a part of me that wonders if we're all not more than a little spoiled as users ourselves. Have we misplaced our own expectations of product perfection? Do we not get a little pissed off when our own users get impatient with our bugs, missing features, delayed launches? 

I don't know...so tell me, is there anything you've learned from Google's Reader SNAFU?