5 articles tagged ‘Authentic’
- Video classics: Developers, developers, developers, developers
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Platforms need developers to succeed, so you need stories that resonate with developer’s worldview. Stories that you live to make true.
Your stories must be true. Developers can spot lies and it’s easier than ever to spread bad news, such as on Facebook. Not to pick on Facebook, but they serve as an example of conflict between a platform vendor and developers.
Facebook is a platform for third-party applications. And not just for games; you’ll find a range of business and marketing applications as well. After all, with Facebook’s massive user base there’s money to be made.
- Expensive lessons: Seismic change costs $540 million
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I saw first-hand what happens when your worldview hold’s you hostage: we lost out on a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Worldviews change; ignore at your peril. At Dynasty Technologies Inc. in the 1990s, I saw first-hand what happens when your worldview holds you hostage.
Dynasty was a 2nd generation client/server application development tool. Our main competitor was Forté Software Inc. Founded in the mid 1990s, both companies had significant venture capital funding with a growing global base of enthusiastic early adopters.
The Dynasty Development Environment generated native C/C++ code with no runtime system. Forté generated proprietary code with a runtime interpreter. For some developers runtimes were OK; for others a pure incarnation of evil. Customer’s runtime worldview was decisive for sales.
- Dedication: Learn to say no in times of trouble
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In a famine of qualified prospects, you’ll try to grab anything that appears edible. Lack of a reliable sales process is corrosive.
When prospects are rare you’ll do everything to win. Development adds features. Marketing invents ROI justifications. Prospects are too precious to waste; you cannot risk letting even one get away. You do whatever it takes.
Lack of a shared worldview is an increasing problem as you grow. Special cases abound; exceptions appear. Everybody is paranoid about saying no.
To see how sticking to a clear understanding of your worldview changes everything, take a look at 37signals. They are a 20 person company selling web-based apps for small groups and individuals. With more than 3 million users, they are very profitable.
- Worldviews: Code generator expectations
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Forcing our code generation worldview on prospects just lead to heated arguments and late nights cranking out emergency fixes.
For many years I built, sold and supported application generators that generated platform-specific code from abstract problem statements. We generated Java, C++, C, SQL, HTML, COBOL, PL/I and many other languages.
Our worldview: generated code is efficient and works. Our ideal prospects shared our worldview. While they were often experts, they had no expectations about how the generated code should look. Just that it worked and that they were more productive.
Not all prospects shared this worldview. If someone said “I would not have written the (generated) code like that” we knew there would be trouble.
- Agile storytelling: Ship new content and moves on
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The waterfall model for content creation is too slow. You need an agile process to create and ship your storytelling content.
To sell a product you must know what your target audience wants, not just what they need. Wants changes; worldviews are not static. Every message and conversation with peers has an impact, moving the story along.
The software business is quickly picking up qualities of the fashion industry. Both satisfy wants, not needs. Does anyone need designer sneakers? No. Do they want them? Yes!
Worrying about the slippery slope of fashion isn’t new. Windows 3.0 lead business users to want GUIs for their apps. They didn’t need a GUI for their B2B apps, but it was obvious they wanted one. They got what they wanted.
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