5 articles tagged ‘Functions’
- Seth Godin: Inspired by “All Marketers Are Liars”
-
Seth Godin’s book ‘All Marketers Tell Stories’ inspired me to share what I’ve learnt in 30 years of the software business.
Software companies often find themselves stranded on islands of excellence, serving a small group of customers but unable to grow. Opportunistic sales result in a few more islands from time to time.
It’s depressing to see companies with excellent technology shipwrecked. A love-hate relationship with marketing is often a contributory reason. We love having many qualified leads, but hate getting our hands dirty with marketing.
Why’s marketing hated like this? In my experience the cause is often the developer background of many managers. Developers equate lead generation with advertising. And developers hate advertising even more than marketing!
- Clang compiler: Remarkable spell-checker
-
The Clang compiler recovers from unknown tokens using a spell-checker. Something small can be remarkable and worth spreading.
Being remarkable doesn’t always mean you have to develop something large. Sometimes remarkable is small, as this Clang example seen today on Hacker News demonstrates very nicely.
Clang is an open-source compiler front-end for C, C++ and Objective C. The project builds on the LLVM compiler back-end with the goal of replacing the GCC tool chain. Their worldview accepts that programmers can and do make mistakes. Amazing feats of Clang Error Recovery shows how they’ve woven this worldview into the compiler.
What caught my eye was how Clang recovers from unknown tokens. Instead of unhelpful error messages (like GCC), the Clang team chose to do something remarkable: they added a spell-checker to guess what you mean:
- Dedication: Learn to say no in times of trouble
-
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.
- Spreading stories: Distinguish and cherish VIP users
-
Identify returning users as VIPs: those most likely to spread your story. Treating everyone the same is easy, but they deserve better.
Existing users are more likely to recommend you than new one, so don’t treat everyone the same. Existing and new users have different expectations, even though they share a common worldview.
A chainsaw cannot change itself depending on whether a newbie or an experienced lumberjack picks it up. Your software is not a physical product. It’s easy to support multiple expectations from a single code base, just as you do with i18n and L10n.
The German tax system is complex (it’s said 80% of the world’s tax laws are in German). As a result, a large vertical niche of tax return software exists.
- Deep stories: Create a tactile object
-
Physical products are tactile, but software is intangible, so how do you think your audience expects it should look, feel or even smell?
Your target audience has a story about how they expect your product will make them feel. Marketers and developers must work together and meet this expectation with consistent and genuine stories woven into your software.
Physical products are tactile; you can feel them in your hands, how they move, smell and taste. Software is intangible. Even so, how do you think your audience expects your software to feel? To look? To smell? How should it look on opening the box (installing)?
Software is easier to change than physical products. Good design splits function and presentation; weaving your story into your software will be easy. Or not.
Not found what you’re looking for? Then try the Story Complete site map to explore by article title, category, tag, month and author.