Jason Fried says you should run your business like a product.
Your business is essentially a product used by your employees, and it better be the very best product you have since it’s responsible for all the other ones.
I agree. But this leads to the question of, what should that product actually look like? This is a bit harder to answer since it will change depending on the nature of your business, your worldview, the makeup of your employees, and more.
Here are some of the things I am thinking about in terms of application to our web design agency. Note that I think about this product both in terms of customers and employees “using it” because, in our context, that makes sense.
- It should be easy to work with our product. You shouldn’t have to have a degree in any particular field to navigate around, find what (who) you need, or have to look very hard for where to put something.
- Everything should be very clear. If the thought of interacting with my product brings immediate stress, that’s not a good sign. If, instead, is it very clear how to get what they want out of the product when I use it, their thoughts toward the product will be confident. That’s what I want our clients to experience.
- The product should be comprehensive. I don’t want customers to think that our product is limited in what it can do — within reason, of course. Our take is that we are the “managers” of our clients’ digital world. That means our product should have a built-in way to address the peripheral issues that come about with websites and marketing.
- No surprises. Our customers should never have to question a bill, a decision we make on policy, or wonder why something was done the way it was done. If we’ve built our product correctly, those items are all known far in advance and expectations with using the product should never change.
What else would you add to this list?