eat one's own dog food en · VERB
Pronunciation
- (Australia) audio
Etymology
From dog food (“beta software”).
Meanings
-
(slang) To use products or services one is selling internally, in order to understand their limitations.
AOL was signing up members at a furious rate, in part because it provided a better user experience than Juno, and we didn't understand that, because we didn't eat our own dog food.
2004, Avram Joel Spolsky, Joel on Software: And on Diverse and Occasionally Related Matters That Will Prove of Interest to Software Developers, Designers, and Managers, and to Those Who, Whether by Good Fortune or Ill Luck, Work with Them in Some Capacity, Apress, →ISBN, page 223:As with most Microsoft product teams, we eat our own dog food.
2012, Dorothy Graham, Mark Fewster, Experiences of Test Automation: Case Studies of Software Test Automation, Addison-Wesley Professional, →ISBN, page 53:
- (idiomatic) To use or consume the economic goods or services that one is producing; to be part of a closed household economy.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| eating one's own dog food | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| eats one's own dog food | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| eaten one's own dog food | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| ate one's own dog food | Tense=Past | lexicographic |
Relateds
drink the Kool-Aid · high on one's own supply (get)