[Cyclefrance]

Hi V - good luck with the job. I'm not from anything that close to the software world although I spent a few years at Reuters working with developers designing a few products/product enhancements mainly contributing from the user look and feel angle.

I was told by a software guy I know who deals a lot with ordering software, that the 'intelligence' behind the Amazon customer enquiry interface permits it to change the price offer according to the buying habits of the customer, and it's the reverse of what a lot of people would think. If you only buy, say once every six months, then the price offered is lower than if you buy regularly - logic being that if you return to buy frequently you don't need a discount inducement - likelihood is that you aren't comparing prices with other suppliers when you buy regularly so you don't need to be enticed so much. I think the info should have some merit. Best check out for yourself first though if it is something you haven't heard before.

One other thing - and apologies well in advance if this is a naive and unnecessary comment, but I'd rather state something that may be in the 'bleeding obvious' category than leave it unsaid and kick myself later for not having done so! If you're deep diving into a process, at the basic level elimination is so important. Analysis of any sort of problem is an 'if' -then' series of observations and this one of the easiest methods to use for communicating reasoning - e.g. if this is happening , and if that is working OK and if that also is happening OK then it is likely that this other thing here is most likely causing/behind/something to do with the problem - analysis then moves on to 'if/then' the 'likely cause'

All the best - will be interested to learn how the interview went in diue course.