That was a little unnecessary I feel. If we could lay off the personally targeted belligerence and stick to discussing the ideas, that would be appreciated.
@Feathers - Fido has pointed out a few key assumptions in the above discussion and therefore, Iâd argue, is on topic.
Whatâs more Iâm not sure they deserve to be publically chastised (beligerent is a bit strong). If youâre aiming to be a moderator here thatâs great though perhaps striving for balance and picking up on all the wayward threads, not just one, would be fairer.
All - Itâs a shame that much of the discussion seems to have become somewhat negative, repetitive and verging on petty. The original post was intended to be a positive conversation to build on what is a great service and to help convey ideas to the Monzo team that may help other users if they are implemented.
Ultimately while having a difference in opinions and a robust discussion is a good thing however itâs important to express these opinions in a way that is respectful of other participants and not belittling. I think we should aim to have a discussion focussed on improving and increasing understanding around a topic or topics rather than being combative towards each other.
I hope we can now pull focus back to the original thread and be a bit more constructive with feedback.
Unsure of the targeted attack, I was offering my opinion and infact, as a developer I do have an idea of how long it would take and the resources it would take. Donât be so quick to judge. Itâs not as simple as a developer making a graph and adding it to the app, youâve got feasibility planning, research, design, development, testing, integration, maintenance. (SDLC) and each one of those requires the use of a whole teams time.
Iâm welcomed my own opinion as much as yourself which is what I offered. I also tried to stop any argumentd as youâll see above, I said I wouldnât comment anymore on the topic however it seemed to be Fido and yourself to continue to disregard my opinion due to your own agenda.
You have some good ideas, but IMO for a third party. What you have suggested is not a fundamental structure for Monzo, youâre looking at a targeted audience rather than everyone and is not something I require from my bank.
Youâve given your opinion, this is my opinion, neither is wrong. That is what the forum is for.
Thanks @SheaLavington you are clearly financially aware and tech savvy. I feel those individuals who donât have the technical and/or financial awareness (myself included) that you clearly possess who are looking for a bank that can not only hold money but help them manage their finances effectively and survive this tough economic climate are who my suggestions are geared for. My suggestions are what I feel traditional street banks are failing to provide and although not a fundamental structure for banking, as you rightly point out, I believe they are key tools that will help Monzo improve trust and relationship with their customers and will deliver real value to the potential customers of Monzo and be a bank that will subsequently improve the lives of many. Thank you.
@SheaLavington I will also add this as it turns out Iâm quite passionate about this!
Traditional banks have used technology to economise and cut costs - turning branches and bank managers into computers whilst at the same time distancing their customers, reducing the quality of service and support and advice customers get by building relationships via the bank managers of old.
I have had the pleasure of meeting some of the countries most successful retail entrepreneurs who have employed hundreds and as a consequence of tech-based banking decisions their businesses have failed and cost many employees their jobs.
Recently I also had the pleasure to meet David Fiswick - founder of the âBank of Daveâ. He mentioned that a lady almost lost her business because a computer hundreds of miles away decided that florists in her area would not be eligible for finance.
These are examples where cost-cutting measures and the poor implementation of technology has removed the personable support of bank managers and replaced it with less supportive tech and in doing so has affected hundreds of lives in the country. In parallel, thousands of people in this country suffer from financial miss-management and debt, unaided by their banks.
Perhaps Iâve misunderstood what Monzo is but for me it has the golden opportunity to improve the lives of many in this country and overturn the poor esteem the sector is held in by effectively implementing technology and supporting the users of their services in a way other banks just donât seem to do (or care?).
I am not a developer or part of the Monzo team and am unsure what their priorities are or how much resource my suggestions would require to implement however I feel that the positive impact on peoples lives following the implementation of some of these suggestions (or even the sentiment that underpins them) would be worth the effort.
In summary banking need not be passive. Banking could be a force for good!
Just putting it out there: sometimes features are just nice to have, I donât have a set list of exact situations with an analysis to hand.
I quite like the idea of projections. Itâs being smart. I want a smart banking app that over time learns my habits and can (to a degree) tell me if I will be out of money by next payday (based on previous spending habits).
Will this stop my car breaking down? No. Is it a relatively handy and quite cool feature for a bank for 90% of the time? Sure.
Too many people immediately jump on any suggestions with one of two responses:
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Well I wouldnât use that feature so I donât see why it should be made at all
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Monzo need to be concentrating on XYZ
Letâs be creative, throw ideas around, itâs good, healthy and exactly what Monzo is created to be: a new, different way of banking where banking works for YOU and not the other way around.
Thanks for posting @coffeemadman - iâd agree - I think we can be a little polarised on how suggestions are evaluated and I suppose ultimately thatâs Monzoâs job thanks again.
You would have to look at the individual terms and conditions for each service. If itâs in the terms and conditions that they can resell your data to third parties, then itâs not a DPA breach.
As with most things in life, itâs about whatâs in the small print that you agree to.
100% agree. This forum should be a place where ideas, good, bad or ugly can be shared. Everyone should remember that whilst the suggested feature may not work for them, it obviously has a place in the heart of the person who suggested it.
Thanks @richardgrey for adding some clarity around data protection and glad you agree that this forum should be a place for ideas Thanks again.
Def agree @Dileepa. This forum is about throwing ideas around and gauging the appetite for these ideas. My previous post which has no intention of being beligerant was to focus on that and to highlight that it would be highly presumptuous to assume that âonly a minority (segment) would use itâ just because it wasnât like by one particular person or that âMonzo (would) stop developing ground breaking features to make graphs that already exist on third party apps like Yoltâ. Thereâs a reason why most companies would not build something on a whim and would/wouldnât discount a good idea without qualitative and quantitative evidence to prove its worth.
Just saying ⌠If thatâs targetted or beligerant than so be it. I hope it doesnât put you off from posting more great ideas.
Iâd like to reiterate that I think this is a great idea and I personally would find value in it.
Just for clarity : My intentions were not to disregard the OPâs post. I simply was offering my own opinion based on my experience within business, development and UX/UI design. If the vast majority agree this would be beneficial for Monzo to succeed as a bank, then so be it, it could be a huge benefit, however I simply offered why I think it could/should be outsourced via the API. Sorry if I offended anyone by disagreeing.
@Dileepa We all agree that the forum is for sharing ideas, but you also have to be open to other peoples opinions and not simply dig them(me) down because they(i) disagree with you.
@Fido What you wrote there comes across clearer, youâre right, it is somewhat presumptuous to assume only a minority would use it, it was a bold claim of mine as there is no data on this, Sorry. However what came across as a targeted attack was the comments âAre you in charge on the roadmap and priorities? Do you know how much effort is required for this??? Im guessing NO.â Youâd be correct Iâm not incharge, and neither is the OP, therefore our opinions on the topic are equal, however I do understand what it takes to develop something like this and offered my own opinion the same way the OP offered theirs initially. I also tried to offer a solution too by suggesting potential third parties who have businesses based around providing graphs, statistics and information as requested.
I donât see someone being told to âget over themselvesâ as a âsharing of ideasâ as described earlier so having given a more friendly warning yesterday I think weâll close this thread for the moment.