Creating a better experience

Yesterday, at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco I learned about the “Reverse Burger King” approach that plagues many software companies today and hampers their growth. You remember the famous Burger King slogan…don’t you?  It’s “Have it your way” …and the dangerous reverse of this is “Have it our way.”

In the software business, the problems we try to solve for enterprises are many times fuzzy and unclear. They’re hard to pin down because they change according to the shifting tastes and preferences of the enterprise that’s trying to compete in the marketplace.  Also, complex enterprise business problems involve many stakeholders from different groups, each with a different angle on the problem, each with a different subset of dynamics, initiatives and success criteria, and each with a different set of enterprise requirements…Each that may be totally or partially incompatible with another groups’ requirements!  I’m sure you’ve seen this when you’ve been in a big sales meeting with all areas of the enterprise represented. The folks around the table are not just confused about whether or not you can help them…they’re confused about the best direction for their own company as they contend with the shifting sands of the marketplace beneath their feet. As a matter of fact, the meeting to present your product may have been the first time this particular group has gotten around a table in 3 months…so who knows what kind of fun you’re in for.

As solution providers, it’s easy for us to look at an enterprise as an outsider, make a bold diagnosis of their ailments and prescribe the solution – our stuff, of course. It’s easy to do this, but it’s also foolish because it takes on the Reverse Burger King way of thinking…”Have it our way.”

If the problems and issues of enterprises were so well understood and clearly defined…then I would argue, they would have already thrown together a project plan, allocated some man-hours and easily solved their own problems a long time ago. But the problems of large enterprises blend into the culture, take on a variety of faces and shapes and are hard to notice…even to the people who work there! So, if they can’t nail down their own problems, then how can we expect to do it with some internet research, a 45 minute introductory conference call and a product that hasn’t changed much in a couple years but has “most” of what we think enterprises need… 

The point here is that the solutions to enterprise problems are just as unclear and elusive as the problems, which is why we need to take on the customer-centric attitude of “Have it your way” that includes proper customer development.  Customer development means that you are nimble and iterative in your solution development in order to keep up with the enterprise’s vast and evolving needs.  Too slow…and your potential customer is leaving you in the dust, looking elsewhere for solutions or taking what they’ve learned from you and doing the rest themselves. “Have it your way” is sometimes hard to swallow because it might not be in alignment with your grand vision and plan. But so what. Instead of measuring progress by evaluating how closely we are able to stick to our vision and plan, maybe we should measure ourselves against how much we are able to change in order to gain new customers and increase revenue.

Lots of change can be easy with proper planning. Evaluate your processes and build-in the ability to collaborate and make changes quickly and easily. Expect and embrace change and tell your customers “Have it your way!” The result will be revenue generating solutions to real enterprise problems.