Go ahead, blame Kevin Costner. No, not because Fields of Dreams was such a kitschy movie, but because it instilled upon us engineers what I hereby dub Afterthought Myth #1: If you build it, they will come.

It’s easy to imagine that if you build the shiniest gizmo using the hippest tools and the trendiest designs, that users (argh, I mean customers) will flock your way. It’s easy to imagine that if you just get the algorithm right, or if your use^H^H^Hcustomers can get where they need to go in two screens instead of six, that you will have won. But alas, my young padawan, it’s just not so.

Marketing isn’t an afterthought that you tack on once your product is complete. You don’t have that luxury. It’s got to be baked right in, just like the chocolate chips in your grandma’s homemade cookies. If it helps, picture the scorn in her eyes when she catches you pulling the cookies out of the oven and frantically trying to dump chocolate morsels on top so they melt before the cookies cool down. What do you mean you forgot to add them before the pan went into the oven? You were raised better than that. Tsk tsk.

Now go forth and market thyself. Grandma’s watching.