I think I really understand Leslie's point. Maybe it just seems that AC is losing focus because there is suddenly so much that must be done in too short a time period. I sure hope so and hope that Leslie is wrong. But she might not be.
I can see both sides of this argument, too. Companies as big as Yahoo and HP were tremendously successful, but lost their way as they tried to expand and cover too many bases. On the other hand, Apple was practically on CPR until they diversified and came up with iPods, phones, etc.
I am certainly no expert (though that doesn't stop me from expressing an opinion). It seems that to stay ahead, a company needs to follow certain tenets. These include: start with a good product and improve it as you develop new ones; provide strong customer support; and pay attention to your customer base as you expand.
So if Jon made the judgement that he could do the above as he developed a PM product, then it made sense to go for it. On the other hand, if someone said to Jon in 2008, "we can get CCHIT certification and develop a practice management program, but in the interim years, the quality of our support will take a big hit; we will have little time to communicate with customers and solicit their input; and the program will be more complex and buggy but we will only be able to devote very few resources to fixing old and new issues with it"...well I would imagine that Jon would have said to forget it.
Some fear that the latter scenario is being played out. I think we are seeing some signs of it; hopefully they will be temporary and short-lived. After PM is completed, I hope the company can get "back to basics" and address these issues.
