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How can you go wrong while following the car’s GPS? Or Google Maps for that matter. The technology has existed for years, and billions of people follow directions every day. Yet, there are times it can send you off in the wrong direction.

Amber VanHecke, a 24-year-old student, headed off on a road trip in Arizona’s Grand Canyon, using Google Maps for directions. However, the application led her down a road that didn’t exist. Then she ran out of petrol en route – leaving her stranded in the desert for five whole days.

Before seeing how she escaped that nasty situation, let’s think about a similar situation (though less extreme): a software product development. You could use different navigation systems to get to a successful product.

For a development-focused team, it is very easy to start developing a product by doing what they know best, which means coding. Selecting frameworks, a platform between the desktop and the web, mobile-first or not, and on and on. That’s their GPS, so it cannot go wrong.

A product-focused team tries to work on the customer first and the technology second. As sales and marketing teams, they start by looking at the customer’s needs and problems. They try to understand if:

• there is a need for a solution to the problem
• there is enough business value in a solution
• customers are willing to pay for a solution

The customer is the GPS now. But as both teams head in the same direction, will they both get to the destination? Let’s compare a software-oriented team journey with a product development team.

Product development as an 8 hours workday

Let’s say we could control time and develop the first version of a software product in a single day. How would the two teams spend these 8 hours of hard work? The race to the finish line starts … NOW!

Time	Software developer	Product developer
0-15 min	Selecting frameworks and technology	Researching customers, making prototypes
15-30 min	Developing version 1 More technology choices	Creating landing pages Discussing with prospects
30-45 min	Publish a website Build more technology Email other developers	Customer research Start pre-selling the product Leads start using a prototype
45-60 min	Waiting for customers Yearning for code changes	Announcing launch First sales to real customers
1-2 hrs	Working on version 2 Working on the website Focus on technology	More real sales Work towards version 1 Focus on customers
2-4 hrs	Working on updates Having some sales Technology is the answer!	Updates based on buyers Prospect new markets More sales
4-8 hrs	Some success Continue or not? Success, or failure? Should we email customers?	Clearer, measured outcome: – Product-market fit or – Change the focus or – Close the project

The three main errors software developers do

• Focus on technology-first instead of customers-first
• Start with software development instead of market research
• Continue focusing on technology instead of domain learning

Product teams work on the customers first and the technology second

Understand the customer and the problem, but also build a pilot. Check the business plan, but also look at development costs. Work with sales and marketing to align the roadmap with the business.

We can get lost even by using the best GPS. But first, use the right GPS and enter the right destination. And when getting stuck, reassess the situation and take the necessary measures.

While stuck in the desert, Amber VanHecke tried to stop cars passing by, spared as much water as she could, and survived on rations. She gathered rocks to create huge “SOS” and “HELP” messages. Finally, after walking for miles, she picked up enough mobile signal to call 911 and got saved by an air ambulance.

If you are stuck in Technology Land, search for help and start focusing on a product strategy.

The customer calls two days before your presentation, planned weeks before. The program has changed at the last minute. They are sorry, but you will only have 15 minutes to present, instead of half an hour. Things get worse: upon arrival, the day of the presentation, you learn that you will only have 5 minutes.

This actually happened two years ago. We settled the date for presenting a software application to a big hospital, weeks in advance. The doctors needed a solution to help them in their daily job, so we had to focus on their problems. Doctors, students, and professors were going to be present. Therefore, we prepared a few slides, the software demonstration and the strategy to close the meeting.

However, days before the meeting we get a phone call, we only get 15 minutes for the demonstration. Panic ensues.

On the day of the presentation, the chief of the department receives us, loaded with laptops and brochures. He walks and talks fast, having few spare moments between meetings. Running through the maze of hallways, he tells us about 50 people are attending, more than we hoped.

Then, at the last turn, he tells us that our presentation should not go over 5 minutes. 5 minutes instead of 15.

How to manage a last-minute change of plans, and give a presentation in 5 minutes, instead of 15 minutes (or half an hour)? A good strategy is to prepare in advance for such an event and train to:
– present 3 points
– repeat 3 times the points
– give 3 examples
And all, under 5 minutes.

Present 3 points

The structure of the presentation can focus on 3 main points. For example, answering these 3 questions:
a) what is the problem you’re talking about, and how it affects the audience
b) what is the proposed solution
c) how to use this solution

Some people are too focused on their daily jobs and lose perspective. If the goal of your presentation is to open their minds, you can introduce 3 big ideas that could open their horizons. But it is not enough to expose these ideas, you also need to help the listeners to remember these points.

Repeat 3 times the main points

Any good Toastmaster introduces the main points at the beginning of their speech, then develops each point in more detail. At the end of the presentation, summarize the points in the conclusion or as a list.

Repeating the main 3 points allows the public not only to understand each idea but also to remember them. Someone hearing an idea for the first time needs this repetition, otherwise, it will be soon forgotten.

Tell them what you’re going to tell them,
then tell them,
then tell them what you’ve told them.

Dale Carnegie

However, this simple, repetitive structure can bore and wear the audience. Keep their attention and bring the ideas near their own experience, by using stories or examples.

Give 3 examples or stories

You can use a real example as an introduction to the presentation. This helps everyone to project themselves in the same situation. Stressful situations like this come up from time to time in any professional life. For example, presenting your work, and having to shorten your speech to 5 minutes.

Once the introduction made, other examples can support the presented points. Circle back to the beginning example in the conclusion to show how the presented points produced the wanted outcome. Here is, as an example, how our 30, then 15, and finally 5 minutes demonstration went:

How did our meeting finally go?

On the day of the presentation we found a full U-shaped meeting room, with students and doctors seated and curios. My colleague started the meeting, introducing the goal of the presentation and thanking the organizer.

Meanwhile, I connected the laptop to their projector, then continued the speech and followed our plan, step by step:
– a short introduction to the problem the doctors encountered every day
– the 3 ways in which our solution answered to their needs
– software demonstration focusing on the 3 points, with examples
– conclusion with a summary of the 3 points
– the next steps to test and use the software solution

So what was the magic formula we used to manage the last-minute change of program?

Manage last-minute program changes by preparing a 5 minutes presentation

In the start-up world, this is the “elevator pitch”. You need to present your project in less time than taking the elevator with a potential investor or partner. This usually means less than 5 minutes.

Take the time to prepare the meeting, after setting the date or after the first change of plans. Any presentation, no matter how long, can build around 3 points. To reach the goal of your presentation, take the time to introduce the 3 points, repeat them 3 times, and give at least 3 examples.

How come we solved the mystery of the Egyptian hieroglyphs, but still can’t read the ones from Crete? For centuries we admired the eagles, lions, tools and human shapes carved in the Egyptian stones. We knew they meant something but didn’t have the key to understand them. So how can we decipher an unknown language?

The key to understanding an unknown language is to find translations. For the hieroglyphs, the key was finding the Rosetta stone – a bilingual royal decree written both using hieroglyphs and Greek. It was the bridge between the two ancient worlds, as it used phonetic characters for both foreign and local names. This allowed translating characters, then concepts and finally words.

Some business websites look like written in an ancient, unknown language. To understand the strategy, the products and the philosophy of a business, we need a Rosetta stone of sorts: a one-page prospectus. Here are the main three elements such a document must cover:

1. What’s your story
2. What do you do
3. Who do you work with

1. What’s your story

People love stories. We want to know how Microsoft started and how Steve Jobs fought them. We’re puzzled why Yahoo didn’t buy Google when they were a small team. Start your prospectus with your story. Pick up the most interesting bit about you or your business and get the ball rolling from there.

While starting up in a garage is a common beginning for lots of startups, you could start by telling your reader how did you:
– realize there is a problem specific people have  
– came up with a product idea
– got your fist 2 customers

The story needs to focus the attention on your unique perspective and introduce the context in which you work. Your work is the main focus of the prospectus and comes after your story, in the second part.

2. What do you do

The second part covers your work. Coming after the story paragraphs, it needs to have a different visual layout. Choose a two or three-column layout to get the attention of the reader. These points cover how you work and what do you do: your products, your guiding principles and your work methods.

If you already have 3 or more products, group them in two or three areas of interest. When starting up you can pick three sides of the problem your business intends to help to solve. Or choose three principles you wish to put forward in your business. Let’s see some examples.

For an e-commerce online platform:
Market | Sell | Scale

For a business producing video game textures and compression tools:
Texture | Compression | Basis

While building De Amicis the focus of our articles and products is on:
Empathy | Structure | Energy

The work is done in the context of your customers – people or businesses needing (and paying for) your products. The third part of the prospectus focuses on them.

3. Who do you work with

Who are your customers? Are they companies or are they people like you and me? It is very important to showcase your products through the voice of one or two of your typical customers. Include quotes and testimonials which fit your target profile, the person or the company your products serve best.

Testimonials also suggest to some readers that they may NOT be a good fit for your product, principles or methods of work. That may be as important as getting the best customers. Customers who don’t fit your world-view will tend to fight your strategy and suck your energy. The main goals of the prospectus are attracting the right customers and filtering out the bad ones.

But a one-page prospectus is not enough to sell my products

The prospectus alone won’t sell your products. But it should be an important part of your sales strategy, one tactic you can use in combination with others. It can be part of your cost proposal to establish your history, authority, and specificity for any decision-makers. It can also be part of your marketing brochure, book or website. Let’s look at some examples.

Prospectus examples

Example 1 – Blugento – online shop
The prospectus for an e-commerce platform could focus on the
Market | Sell | Scale triplet:

Example 2 – Binomial – image/texture compression product
In this example, we have a company producing a suite of software tools called Basis. They are used by video games, streaming services, virtual & augmented reality, so the prospectus could focus on
Texture | Compression | Basis

Example 3 – PC PAL – healthcare software components
PC PAL has three product lines, so the prospectus can focus on the three medical areas covered by them:
Growth charts    |    Family trees    | Patient registries

Why not having a one-page prospectus is a mistake

The one-page prospectus clarifies your message and translates it to your customers. Not having one is risking misunderstanding and misalignment with your audience. Use it in your marketing and sales material to present your unique point of view.

Tell your story to explain where do you come from and how did you build your business. What do you do and how do you do it is your selling proposition. Cover products and services, but also your principles and your methods of work. Close the circle by showing who do you work with, who your customers are and what they’re saying about you.

Give your customers a Rosetta Stone and help them understand your business and products using a one-page prospectus.

P.S. Use the bellow gallery to compare the three examples.

Hokusai finished his best-known painting when he was 72 years old – “The Great Wave Off Kanagawa”. But this is not the first time he painted the wave. Over the years he painted at least three other versions of the same scene.

Artists do many sketches and versions of a subject, at different times, from different points of view, until they understand how to express it. Using different scene setup and focus each time, the painter understood how to capture the wave.

The same happens when you enter a new team: you first need to meet everyone in the team and to understand how they work on their projects. Here are the three main goals for creating an onboarding plan for new members of your team:

1. Present the tools and processes used in the company
2. Introduce each team member and their respective roles
3. Present specific topics in one-on-one sessions with current members

1. Present the tools and processes used in the company

Make a list of processes and tools used to run the company. Development, support or hiring processes have many steps and split responsibilities.
Some tools are administrative: email, salaries, invoicing. Others help teams manage their work (products, tasks, activity reports).

Adapt the list to different roles: sales use CRM tools, support needs helpdesk tools, developers need … development tools. You don’t need separate lists for each job. Instead, make sure to present all the tools to new employees, with details according to their role.

2. Introduce each team member and their respective roles

Like at a party, you need to chaperone the new guest. Discuss the onboarding plan with the team and make sure the new colleague meets everyone in the process. Present each member of the team to the new colleague, talking about their role and expertise.

The purpose is to open communication bridges, to begin building trust between colleagues. The bridge is not enough though, current and new members of the team need to spend some time together, one-on-one, and discuss a specific subject.

3. Present specific topics in one-on-one sessions with current members

Setting up 1-2-hour meetings between a new developer and a designer can produce astonishing results. Imagine a new developer meeting a seasoned sales rep! Looking back at your previous experience, how many times did you wish to know more about your colleagues in other roles?

The purpose is that for an hour or two the new colleague discusses a project or tool with another colleague. Face to face discussion is very different than team lunch or a company party. Though bigger events allow discussions to flow quicker, only some subjects come up and there is no depth. Spend time to learn more about a tool and a colleague.

But new members meeting everyone is a waste of time for the team!

It may look like wasted time, but it is a critical moment for the team. The way you receive people shows you value them. Or not. It’s your choice. Spending time to show them around and getting them to know everyone is not a waste of time. It shows you trust the new colleague and you want to invest time to better know each other.

How to outline an onboarding plan in 30 minutes

Start outlining your onboarding plan by listing the main topics. Each topic, managed by one or two of the existing team members, cover an area such as:

• Company (vision, strategy, products) – CEO, manager
• Administration – management assistant, HR
• Products – product director, project managers
• Operations and support – operations and support managers
• Sales and marketing – sales director, creative director

From this outline go down one level and list tools, projects and products for each area. Assign one person from the team to discuss one specific topic or tool with a new colleague. Split topics further until everyone in the team has one to present. Two people can also present the same topic if needed. Different points of view on the same subject are better than one.

Each one-on-one presentation should take at least 1 hour to allow time for introductions and discussing a specific topic. After such a presentation, the new member should be able to explain the subject, the person presenting it, and who’s in charge of the topic.

Finish the plan by reviewing the list of everyone on the team. Check that each person has at least a subject to introduce to a new member. Companies bigger than 2-3 teams will need to adjust the plan around a specific team. In this case, include all the team members as well as other people supporting the team in different roles.

Oh, and don’t plan more than one meeting per day, as it’s too tiring for the new member and it will affect the learning. It’s better to take 2-3 weeks for the whole plan or even a month.

Onboarding plan’s purpose is to set up new team members for success

Introduce your new colleague to the company’s vision, products and current members using this 3-step method:
1. Know the projects and tools your company uses
2. Know your new colleagues and their roles
3. Meet each colleague and get introduced to each project

Use an onboarding plan to help your new colleague get aboard, speed up and catch the wave along with your team.

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How many times have people told you not to reinvent the wheel? That’s something so obvious! You shouldn’t reinvent something accepted and working well for the last 2000 years. That’s common sense! Yet, that’s exactly what young George Cayley did. 

His purpose to build ever lighter and flying machines made him interested in building lightweight wheels. In 1808 he came up with the idea of using tension instead of compression to build wheels. It was no longer the rim which kept the wheel round and robust. Instead, it was the hub and the wires keeping the rim well rounded and tensioned to absorb the road bumps.

Over time, the wire wheel came into common use on bicycles, cars and many other vehicles. Radial wires pulling from the rim to the hub, like an office attractive to the people going there every day. Why would you choose your next office by comparing prices? Instead, compare the attractiveness of the new office to your team, your customers or both.

You can use these three strategies to choose your next office location:
1. Position your office to shorten your team’s commute time
2. Pick your next office location to get closer to your customers
3. Use distributed offices closer to your customers AND to your employees

1. Position your new offices to shorten your team’s commute

Your colleagues are leaving in a large or busy area, making commutes long and difficult for some. They have to shift working hours when possible or lose time and energy otherwise. You need to consider this before choosing your next office.

Look at the area where your employees live and calculate the closest office location for their commute. This method of choosing an office location gives everyone more time and energy. As a result, your customers will get a better service and your company a lower employee turnover.

2. Pick your next office location to get closer to your customers

Placing an office in locations accessible for your customers attracts them in a similar way the wire brings tension between the rim and the hub. Choose an area where your customers have already concentrated or an area they often visit. A city center comes to mind, a downtown, or a port, depending on your business.

Placing the next office in such locations and providing parking, social events, or competent employees attracts customers and puts you in a position to grow your business. It’s no longer you calling them, they’re coming to you instead. This strategy is even better with distributed offices.

3. Use distributed offices closer to your customers AND to your employees

Why not trying to get closer to your customers, while at the same time placing an office close to a part of your team? In some businesses, it makes sense to open multiple, smaller offices accessible to customers. To complete the strategy, assign to each office the employees living close by, as much as possible.

When your employees live around a big city they can be travel quite far to get to the office. Grouping them in smaller offices where your customers concentrate is a win-win-win strategy for your company. Don’t focus on the cheapest office space!

But the cheapest office space is the best choice!

Yes, for your business it might look like the cheapest the better. But you have other costs, not only for the offices. How much does it cost you to visit customers or prospects from a central office?

Your employees take time from their workday to visit your customers, a time when they cannot work and when they get tired. It also takes time for your customers to visit your office, so they visit you less often.

What kind of organizations use distributed office locations?

Agencies like the French URSSAF have implemented a strategy to open up quite a few smaller offices in somewhat unexpected areas: startup accelerators, co-working spaces and near exhibition centers. This strategy allows them to be present and help to create new businesses, which is part of their mission.

Banks and real estate agencies open offices in the closest office location to their target customers: young and middle-class neighborhoods, business centers or very busy places (like shopping malls).

When this kind of institution put in place a distributed office strategy they can also work on the internal relocations. They can try to assign their employees to the nearest office, when possible and when appropriate for the job.

How to prevent losing money by choosing the closest office location

Lose your team or your core people and your business will suffer or even perish. Keep in mind that good people and good customers are not easy to find and to grow. Try to have at least one of the two happy, if not both.

Instead, open your new office close to your customers and your employees. Your team is running your business for a few years. If the team members live around a big city, you want to place your new office close to most of them.

You can also distribute your offices to target areas your customers often visit. If you can do both, then you keep happy both your team and your customers.

That’s not reinventing the wheel, it’s a better way to organize your offices. Instead of using a central office, rigid like a rim, use smaller offices, closer for your employees and for your customers (like wires keeping the hub in tension and the wheel turning).

Good news! We are building a tool to help you compare your team’s commute to a new office with your current location.

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