And that’s a very good thing!
A lifetime’s worth of experience will not erase a fundamental truth: each human being is unique. What could you say then about the mix of people building a business?
If you see smoke, probably there’s a fire somewhere. Based on observations, filtered by what happened in the past, when we see smoke we come up with a story on where’s the fire, and what we need to put it out. We look for those we feel are worth to listen to that problem story: those that have the patience and expertise to connect with our vision and perception.
“The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know.”
Aristotle
I have worked on several digital platforms, with clients from over two dozen countries and industries. I know cues don’t provide clear paths — it’s the details that make the difference we’re after.
Employees, resources, the market, positioning, features, customers, needs, and expectations make up an ecosystem that can’t accommodate conventional solutions.
Of course, I see where they point at. When I spot the patterns I jump and think it’s a slam dunk! Our brains are wired to optimize, in order to reduce the cost of processing. That’s why, when you hear a problem framed the same way so many times before, you relax and embrace the closest match. I did it plenty of times, as a rookie.
But I know better now.
The symptoms are the first step on the path to discovering the solution with the most desirable outcomes and lowest resource requirements. So, we walk through a design process to properly identify what’s creaky and actually needs oiling. Sure, it may seem tedious, but it’s illuminating.
I balance experience and enthusiasm by keeping an open mind to the challenges your organization is facing.
Those questions I ask during our first meeting don’t feed my curiosity, and my answers might not feed yours. At the risk of irritating you by asking “Why is that?”, I refrain from blurting out recipes, and plug into your matrix.
Because my job is not to know, it’s to find out.
