The company's accumulated mistakes resulted in $200 million in losses.
Sonos, a well-known manufacturer of premium audio equipment, faced a serious crisis after launching a new app in May this year. The update, designed to improve device management, turned out to be a real disaster for users and the company itself.
The situation turned out to be so serious that Sonos CEO Patrick Spence instructed the company's general counsel, Eddie Lazarus, to conduct a thorough investigation into the events leading up to the launch of the app. Lazarus finalized the report by the end of July, interviewing about two dozen key employees and reviewing recordings of past meetings.
The problems began immediately after the release of the new application. Users have found that many important features are either missing or not working correctly. A wave of negative reviews quickly spread across the Internet, causing a storm of indignation among Sonos customers.
The consequences were extremely serious for the company. Sonos was forced to admit that it would miss its annual revenue target, expecting a $200 million shortfall. In addition, the company has postponed the release of two new products until the issues with the app are fixed, which is estimated to take several months. Sonos shares have fallen 25% since the beginning of the year.
The root of the problem lies in the company's long-term ignorance of so-called "technical debt" – the accumulated outdated code and infrastructure that negatively affects the security, usability and stability of the product. For two decades, Sonos allowed its technical debt to grow, which eventually led to a crisis situation.
When the company began to update the application in earnest in mid-2022, it became clear that most of the infrastructure and code were written in almost obsolete programming languages. The Sonos app has been adapted and modified many times, as a result of which the main work on the new version was not so much about adding new features as it was about trying to deal with the existing clutter.
The decisive factor that pushed the company to update was the development of the Sonos Ace headphones, the first fully mobile product in the Sonos line that does not require a connection to a home or office Wi-Fi network. To support this device, both the application itself and the cloud infrastructure that underpins it had to be completely rebuilt.
The Sonos Ace is critical to the company. After the sales boom caused by the pandemic began to subside, investors began to wonder about the sources of further revenue growth. Entering the headphone market, where Sonos will compete with giants such as Apple, Sennheiser and Bose, is seen as an important step in expanding the company's presence in the $100 billion audio market, where Sonos currently has only about 2 percent.
Patrick Spence promised investors to accelerate development by releasing "at least two new products annually" while keeping costs down. The implementation of this strategy led to staff reductions in June 2023 and August 2024, including quality assurance staff.
In parallel with the layoffs, the company was undergoing a reorganization under the leadership of product director Maxime Bouva-Merlin, which, according to former employees, caused chaos in work processes. "They separated people who had worked together for years to create great products", said one former engineer.
As the launch date of the new app approached, it became increasingly obvious that it was far from ready. Sonos employees, many of whom were fans of the brand even before joining the company, began to openly and persistently warn Spence and other executives about the problems. Some meetings, according to eyewitnesses, were accompanied by screams and emotional outbursts.
Workers feared that the desire to attract new customers and fulfill promises made to investors outweighed concern for existing users and the functionality of equipment already sold. "That's what made them ignore other problems", said a former senior official. "They thought they were making a bold decision. It turned out that the decision was wrong".
Despite the seriousness of the situation, employees are not calling for Spence's resignation. The CEO began a kind of "apology tour," visiting the company's offices and assuring employees that he was keeping the situation under control. Many believe that further changes in the manual will only slow down the process of fixing bugs.
The company releases updates to the app every two weeks, aiming to achieve functional parity with the old version in the near future. However, the reputational damage is likely to be felt for a long time to come.
Patrick Spence is personally involved in communicating with disgruntled clients by answering questions on social media and at professional conferences. It has a dedicated email address to contact users directly. If earlier he received several dozen letters a week, then since May their number has exceeded 30,000.
Customers' patience is wearing thin, and Sonos has a lot of work to do to regain user trust and regain its reputation as a manufacturer of high-quality and reliable audio equipment.
Source
Sonos, a well-known manufacturer of premium audio equipment, faced a serious crisis after launching a new app in May this year. The update, designed to improve device management, turned out to be a real disaster for users and the company itself.
The situation turned out to be so serious that Sonos CEO Patrick Spence instructed the company's general counsel, Eddie Lazarus, to conduct a thorough investigation into the events leading up to the launch of the app. Lazarus finalized the report by the end of July, interviewing about two dozen key employees and reviewing recordings of past meetings.
The problems began immediately after the release of the new application. Users have found that many important features are either missing or not working correctly. A wave of negative reviews quickly spread across the Internet, causing a storm of indignation among Sonos customers.
The consequences were extremely serious for the company. Sonos was forced to admit that it would miss its annual revenue target, expecting a $200 million shortfall. In addition, the company has postponed the release of two new products until the issues with the app are fixed, which is estimated to take several months. Sonos shares have fallen 25% since the beginning of the year.
The root of the problem lies in the company's long-term ignorance of so-called "technical debt" – the accumulated outdated code and infrastructure that negatively affects the security, usability and stability of the product. For two decades, Sonos allowed its technical debt to grow, which eventually led to a crisis situation.
When the company began to update the application in earnest in mid-2022, it became clear that most of the infrastructure and code were written in almost obsolete programming languages. The Sonos app has been adapted and modified many times, as a result of which the main work on the new version was not so much about adding new features as it was about trying to deal with the existing clutter.
The decisive factor that pushed the company to update was the development of the Sonos Ace headphones, the first fully mobile product in the Sonos line that does not require a connection to a home or office Wi-Fi network. To support this device, both the application itself and the cloud infrastructure that underpins it had to be completely rebuilt.
The Sonos Ace is critical to the company. After the sales boom caused by the pandemic began to subside, investors began to wonder about the sources of further revenue growth. Entering the headphone market, where Sonos will compete with giants such as Apple, Sennheiser and Bose, is seen as an important step in expanding the company's presence in the $100 billion audio market, where Sonos currently has only about 2 percent.
Patrick Spence promised investors to accelerate development by releasing "at least two new products annually" while keeping costs down. The implementation of this strategy led to staff reductions in June 2023 and August 2024, including quality assurance staff.
In parallel with the layoffs, the company was undergoing a reorganization under the leadership of product director Maxime Bouva-Merlin, which, according to former employees, caused chaos in work processes. "They separated people who had worked together for years to create great products", said one former engineer.
As the launch date of the new app approached, it became increasingly obvious that it was far from ready. Sonos employees, many of whom were fans of the brand even before joining the company, began to openly and persistently warn Spence and other executives about the problems. Some meetings, according to eyewitnesses, were accompanied by screams and emotional outbursts.
Workers feared that the desire to attract new customers and fulfill promises made to investors outweighed concern for existing users and the functionality of equipment already sold. "That's what made them ignore other problems", said a former senior official. "They thought they were making a bold decision. It turned out that the decision was wrong".
Despite the seriousness of the situation, employees are not calling for Spence's resignation. The CEO began a kind of "apology tour," visiting the company's offices and assuring employees that he was keeping the situation under control. Many believe that further changes in the manual will only slow down the process of fixing bugs.
The company releases updates to the app every two weeks, aiming to achieve functional parity with the old version in the near future. However, the reputational damage is likely to be felt for a long time to come.
Patrick Spence is personally involved in communicating with disgruntled clients by answering questions on social media and at professional conferences. It has a dedicated email address to contact users directly. If earlier he received several dozen letters a week, then since May their number has exceeded 30,000.
Customers' patience is wearing thin, and Sonos has a lot of work to do to regain user trust and regain its reputation as a manufacturer of high-quality and reliable audio equipment.
Source
