Product pipeline

So we're off the the races on our first product demo. I'm pretty excited that the idea that I had a year ago has evolved with the help of people smarter than me, and the idea is becoming a reality. I feel like I've been talking about it for so long, it will be funny to have something to actually show people.

AND what's even funnier? I'm already excited about starting on our other ideas, which seem to be flowing much more easily now. The floodgates have been opened.

Bad communication

Yesterday was frustrating. Still no progress on getting Sharepoint working on our new server, and our email was down for hours. A few tips for anyone in a client support role:

• Tell me if you don't know how to do something--either I'll figure out another option, or we'll figure it out together
• Don't charge me for your learning curve, unless I agree to it in advance
• Itemize what you are charging me for
• Tell me in advance if the work you are doing may disrupt the work I am doing
• When you think something is fixed, let me know so I can test it
• Let me know when something is fixed
• Tell me what the problem is--I'm a big girl, I can take it. Oh, and yes, I will probably understand it too
• Even if you don't, pretend like you care that things are all messed up (if I think you care, I won't be as mad at you)

Nothing is more frustrating than bad communication. Except maybe no communication. So try to call people when the going gets rough, and remember to be nice.

Rockstars are everywhere

Ok, so I know the last post was that Rockstars are hard to find. And that is true. But there really are rockstars everywhere out there, if you bother to look. People who do more than you ask them to and are happy to do it. People who work hard to make sure everyone looks good. People who are smarter than you. People who naturally go above and beyond because they actually want to. People who dream big and do something about it. People who are ambitious, trustworthy, responsible, brilliant and talented.

I'm not saying they are easy to find. But they are all around you.

The trick is to figure out how to get them to want to work with you. My suggestion? Reward them for what they do best, forgive them for mistakes and stay out of their way.

It's hard to find rockstars

IT guys tend to be the unsung heroes of companies. They deal with all of the "user errors" and people rarely give them credit for the things that go right but freak out about the things that go wrong. I always appreciate really good IT guys and try not to take them for granted.

Because sometimes, you find really crappy IT guys. I've been working in technology for several years, and I know just enough about IT to be dangerous (which is to say I still sometimes commit grievous human errors). But if I know more about the solution to a problem than my IT guy, that's not a good thing.

We've been migrating our email (and eventually our network files) to a new server. It has not been going well. It's difficult to prioritize hiring decisions, and IT support seems like an easy area to outsource until we grow to a size where we warrant our own internal IT team. But when things aren't going well, I really miss having dedicated and talented IT guys.

Here comes the sun

I'm neck deep in a lot of stuff right now. Most of it is new territory, which leads to an inordinate amount of overthinking and self-doubt. For the most part, I don't let any of this show.

But last week, sometime around 2 am while walking to the next drinking establishment, I opened the floodgates to one of my co-conspirators. I don't think I can do this, who do I think I am? No one is going to believe in me, and I don't want to screw this up for the people who actually do. I have no idea what I'm doing. I feel sick when I think about failing.

He, in all his wisdom and inebriation, was kind enough to share an analogy. Koreen, you're like the sun. You can't be the whole solar system, but you can hold us together to create something bigger than yourself. Without the planets, you'd just be a star. There are lots of stars, but you, you are the sun.

Thanks for the analogy; I think I'm shining a little brighter because of it.

Vendor versus partner

I had an interesting week. I'm glad to be home, exhausted, and processing everything that happened in the last 6 days with our client.

The past 8 years or so I've been involved in custom learning projects. These types of projects require a level of intimacy with your client that you don't need or typically have with product sales. It's good and bad--in order to be successful, you need to really know their business. You need to understand the interpersonal dynamics and company politics. You have to know the process for getting things done. You have to recognize your advocates and the people who will throw you under the bus. You have to constantly walk the fine line of knowing all of these things, but realizing you don't actually work there.

You also develop relationships that are richly complex. You, in essence, work for these people. Some people will treat you like a slave, some a partner, and some a friend. For custom projects, the goal for continued success is to bring enough value and develop strong relationships so that you are seen as a partner, not just a vendor.

Entering into the product development realm again, I'm already a little sad that we'll be sacrificing some of these close relationships. I realize that we really will start to simply be a vendor. We'll have no need to be as integrated with our client teams, or at least not to the extent we have been. I wonder if, after I've focused on products for awhile, I will want to start being a partner again.

Focus

The last week was a whirlwind, preparing for a big client meeting, then travelling to that meeting on Saturday, working all day Sunday (so it felt like Monday). This week is non-stop meeting action and not going home until Thursday. Its exhilarating to see the hard work that you've done implemented. But this trip has done more than given us feedback. Its also given us focus.

I don't want to be doing this in a year. We could continue to build training, all types of training, but damn, that would be boring. Its not who I want to be, its distracting us from becoming the company that I see when I picture the future.

I feel like I finally have it, perhaps simply by seeing what I don't want. I have focus, my eye on what will make this happen. And it feels as if some enormous burden has been lifted. I'm ready for this.