Mini learning bytes from a techie woman founder: a usability spaces designer by heart, computer engineer by profession, and the founder of a company in the do-good-feel-good education world.
Did another task just come in? Don’t add to your list. Do it!
It works like the zero-inbox philosophy:
A task comes in
Instantly either
Tackle as many tasks as you can by end of day
Reminds me of a doha from Kabir - Kal kare so aaj kar...
People are the biggest asset in your company. Surround yourself with people who are
Teach yourself how to filter out people who are motivated to work for 10 hours, but you sigh at their work, or the ones that generate a wow from you, but don't work enough. Ask fun hypothetical scenario questions in interview to judge.
Q. How do you put a doggie in the fridge? A. Open the door. Put the doggie in. Close the door.
Q. How do you put a cat in the fridge? A. Open the door. Put the cat in. Close the door.
Q. How do you put an elephant in the fridge? A. Open the door. Take the doggie and cat out. Put the elephant in. Close the door.
Your customers may be expecting a different process for them, just like the elephant. Learn what they are expecting. Ask questions and listen to the answers.
You pamper your good employees with compliments and ‘acts of appreciation’. They can feel the appreciation in your body language. Do the same with your resellers.
As a founder:
Wear different hats during demo.
Describe a story with that person as lead character. Use names: Mr. Jones, Mrs. Lincoln. Talk about why that person would want to use your product for a real-world problem.
E.g. Demoing Blog software, don’t say the person logs in to create a post. Instead use: Mr. Jones wants to jot down his learnings for his followers and for himself.
I think that is why I cannot switch away from my mac or iPhone. Apple is incredibly simple to use because there are not too many confusing choices! So, does that mean comprehensive and simple are in contradiction with each other? Maybe not. At ParentSquare, we try and solve it with 'repetitive design': Making new features fairly similar in design and usage to the already existing ones keeps the learning curve low.
Ask what they want to see. Show just that, no more. Stop when done. Ask if they understood.
Alternate (they just want to see the product, nothing in particular) : Depict a relevant scenario. Stop when done. Ask if they understood. (Need to have done research on them for relevant scenario.)
Ask them to think of a scenario. Get them talking. Don’t keep going.