Koby’s Kaos

Not every conversation has to be dominated by gloomy economics. Sometimes common sense can be very refreshing. Part of the fun of holiday events, after all, is meeting people one doesn’t know from way outside the industry (“Chips, huh? So what’s Frito-Lay like to work for?”). The challenge is finding things to share that don’t revolve around politics, plunging 401K’s, or surrogate sports teams. Sometimes it seems impossible, and all one can do is wonder what planet the guy next to you came from.

One night, after hearing too many “Awesome’s” from an individual across the table, I typed the quick, compact man as some kind of career skier or boarder. Great for him, I thought, but we’ll have no passions in common (yawn). Still, I listened. It seemed the only courteous thing to do (and remarkably inexpensive).

Then Mr. Awesome said something that woke me up. He was a smoke jumper during the summer (yes, even I admire that), and during the winter he did something very different–he “created” skiers. Why use the word “create”? Why not say he “taught” skiing? Was there a difference?

Yes. Huge.

In his world view a student might reach a hundred levels of success in skiing technique. Big deal. Simply learning the next skill did not make them a “skier.” Yet usually that’s all the skiing instructor would offer–the next skill. That’s too bad. Because the real question is “will he or she enjoy skiing enough to do it again?” (Or to try a fishing metaphor, what would it take to “hook” them.) Mr. Awesome’s specialty had grown beyond teaching skiers; he had become expert at teaching instructors how to “create” the next crop of skiers. That makes perfect sense from a practical and an economic point of view.

Think about learning a tool. Your vendor can throw the book at you–go through button by button until you are sick of the keyboard and forget why you sunk your budget into purchasing it in the first place.

Or your vendor can keep the carrot of “why” you want to do it always in front. They can get you over that initial hump until you are skilled enough to keep learning and succeeding by yourself.

Whether hardware, software or service, the goal is NOT to simply SELL a product, but to CREATE users – SUCCESSFUL users. Users who have learned what they need to start and be inspired to keep learning. The measure should never be today’s sale, but what they’ll be specifying tomorrow (and convincing their colleagues about).

Why is this so hard to learn? Yes, headlines (specifications) sell. Yes, price builds or breaks barriers. But a successful user stays with the vendor, and is willing to work with them to enhance their products (and enrich their own experience). Classes, development kits, thoughtful and practical documentation, and just plain honest communication, all play a part in how engineers use the product and whether they will exclude or encourage that vendor next time.

This state of mind–thinking about what the user needs to succeed–impacts almost every relationship. It is critical when communicating within project teams and work groups. It can be crucial when you are trying to communicate with anybody–your kids, your teachers, your (gulp) parents.

Take a classic and often political divide–Hardware and Software developers. Well, if either side “wins,” they both lose. To really be successful, each needs to educate and learn from the other. They need to CONSCIOUSLY explore what they can do to make the other’s job easier. And they need to recognize and reward their sometime adversaries when that help is returned. The Meta goal is to make cooperation self-sustaining. It’s been shown over and over again, if you just toss bits over the dividers, you limit your success. You will never be able to take advantage of the diversity of experience and training that YOUR group can already offer.

As my new friend expressed his frustration in getting the concept of “creating users” across to the new ski instructors, I found myself sharing my own frustration–and an occasional triumph. We were both struggling to guide very self-confident experts in that one aspect of their jobs that they all dreaded, working with other human beings.

Okay, it’s going to be a tough year. But one cheap solution each of us can try is to find simple ways to serve others and to help them serve us. This can work with vendors, co-workers, and even our own maligned “users”–those end customers who never appreciate how wonderful our creations are. Maybe we’ve forgotten what it is like to be them, to use our own products.

Of course, I may be up the slope without a ski, but I’d like to hear from anyone else who shares my passion. I would like to hear the comments of anyone in any walk of life who is trying to create “users” instead of teaching them to death.