We recently took the alpha version, just as soon as we thought it had passed our testing, to a bunch of users, real ones, the ones who we're building this for. First off, as an early stage startup, we don't have the luxury of dedicated testers. All team members, full-time, part-time, hey-I-just-like-you-guys-and-I'll-help, all pitch in to 'check' it out. We don't have a plan for our testing yet - just a schedule. So we knew when we took it to the users that they'd be seeing it quirks and all, but we thought it would be worth it, as they'd be doing a real test and, most importantly, we'd find out very quickly if this product had value.
It was the most fun I've had in a long time. Of course there were the minor stumbles and mis-reads and consequently lots of input on what should be fixed/improved. But, the users seemed to genuinely enjoy testing the product and we had to ask them to stop and talk to us about their experiences instead. It is a huge rush to create something and find that people like it and think it useful. Of course, there was the predictable dour voice of prudence in the background cautioning us to not read too much into this as it was only a small sample set after all, but one has to live in the moment. This is one of the great highs of entrepreneurship, and it was worth wallowing in - at least for a little while, as there are all those fixes to take care of before doing it all over again.
Channeling the inner entrepreneur who views life as a startup. Musings about people, their spirit, the startup ethos and the entrepreneurial attitude, with an emphasis on education and social ventures. The 'how-to'? Not so much. But definitely the why, the what and the whatever.
A double-edged sword
The previous post covered the challenge of balancing scope and deadlines with the minimal resources that startups are able to scare up. The startup team uses any tool it can to do more in less time - and email, of course, is one that's pretty much taken for granted. There's no denying, it is a great productivity tool inspite of hyped stories on 'email-free' Fridays. Email is timely, quickly distributed, avoids the black holes of side conversations when you're hustling to get things done, and best of all, documents stuff that you need to refer to.
All good, as long as you know when you shouldn't use it. And this is where it gets tricky. You've been sending and receiving dozens of emails a day, covering everything from missing features, funding futures, unmissable meetings and un-spinnable bugs. Somewhere along the way, up pops an issue (and this is almost guaranteed to happen when you're in a crunch) - someone did or didn't do something and someone else gets huffy and sends an email about it (not you, as of course, you know better, don't you?). And your first reaction is to dash off a reply on all the ways this is not right - but writing this email would be on top of the list. A big email no-no: don't criticize on email, unless you want to document it for HR purposes (read, adding to the 'reasons for firing' file). This doesn't mean you can't offer feedback on work deliverables, but stuff like behavior, attitude, playing well or not with others, all of those are better broached in person first.
But, it is not easy to remember and it is almost instinctive to hit the reply button when you read something inflammatory. Which is why you have to become a big fan of the 'draft'. You have to get into the habit of never sending anything that could be an 'oops!' or a 'maybe I shouldn't have' immediately. Write it if you want to - sometimes it clarifies your thinking to see it in words - but save it. Pick up the phone or walk down the hallway and talk it over - you'd be surprised at how often the whole thing ends up just being a misunderstanding or an over reaction due to pressure. If it has to be by email (though that should be very rare), give it some time to settle before you review your response and see if it's fit for sending. Having done email about 'issues' in IM-like frequency in the past - and discovered how it could escalate the smallest slip while being totally useless in actually resolving anything - I've become much more circumspect about what I send by email. Still, I do get tempted at times into shooting off a hot reply, and credit the trusty draft for saving me from the sinking into a dismal morass of email ping-pong.
Bottom line, email is great at cutting down the time it takes to communicate what we need to get stuff done, but shouldn't be used to discuss anything, especially if there's the possibility of value judgments and emotional positioning. Then, all you do is snick some thin skins and foment drama that is most distracting to a startup.
All good, as long as you know when you shouldn't use it. And this is where it gets tricky. You've been sending and receiving dozens of emails a day, covering everything from missing features, funding futures, unmissable meetings and un-spinnable bugs. Somewhere along the way, up pops an issue (and this is almost guaranteed to happen when you're in a crunch) - someone did or didn't do something and someone else gets huffy and sends an email about it (not you, as of course, you know better, don't you?). And your first reaction is to dash off a reply on all the ways this is not right - but writing this email would be on top of the list. A big email no-no: don't criticize on email, unless you want to document it for HR purposes (read, adding to the 'reasons for firing' file). This doesn't mean you can't offer feedback on work deliverables, but stuff like behavior, attitude, playing well or not with others, all of those are better broached in person first.
But, it is not easy to remember and it is almost instinctive to hit the reply button when you read something inflammatory. Which is why you have to become a big fan of the 'draft'. You have to get into the habit of never sending anything that could be an 'oops!' or a 'maybe I shouldn't have' immediately. Write it if you want to - sometimes it clarifies your thinking to see it in words - but save it. Pick up the phone or walk down the hallway and talk it over - you'd be surprised at how often the whole thing ends up just being a misunderstanding or an over reaction due to pressure. If it has to be by email (though that should be very rare), give it some time to settle before you review your response and see if it's fit for sending. Having done email about 'issues' in IM-like frequency in the past - and discovered how it could escalate the smallest slip while being totally useless in actually resolving anything - I've become much more circumspect about what I send by email. Still, I do get tempted at times into shooting off a hot reply, and credit the trusty draft for saving me from the sinking into a dismal morass of email ping-pong.
Bottom line, email is great at cutting down the time it takes to communicate what we need to get stuff done, but shouldn't be used to discuss anything, especially if there's the possibility of value judgments and emotional positioning. Then, all you do is snick some thin skins and foment drama that is most distracting to a startup.
More, or less
One of my managers from many years ago was very fond of the word 'interlock' - especially in the context of 'achieving interlock' between marketing and development or sales and engineering. His was a world of departments of a few hundred people each and budgets in mega-millions, but I believe it is a big challenge in an early stage startup too.
We're all intimately familiar with the balancing act between time, resources and scope, delivering a wobbly visual regardless of which metaphor you choose. Scrunch it down to the startup when all you have are minimal resources who most likely are on a steep learning curve (in a startup it's hard to totally avoid the bleeding edge) while trying to deliver the prototype or beta or whatever, and do it so the customer/user will be blown away - which means an ever-increasing scope of course. And you need it to have happened yesterday so you can get the traction and funding you need to get out of the bind you're in (or so you think).
This makes for some exquisite tension in the team. Yes, you're all passionate and all committed to delivering a quality product that'll take the world (or the little piece you're going after) by storm, but time's a-slipping even when the team's putting in 18-hour days, so what's an entrepreneur to do?
I believe now's when you need your values and focus, the stuff you can measure your decisions and actions by, and makes it easier for your team to accept.
We're all intimately familiar with the balancing act between time, resources and scope, delivering a wobbly visual regardless of which metaphor you choose. Scrunch it down to the startup when all you have are minimal resources who most likely are on a steep learning curve (in a startup it's hard to totally avoid the bleeding edge) while trying to deliver the prototype or beta or whatever, and do it so the customer/user will be blown away - which means an ever-increasing scope of course. And you need it to have happened yesterday so you can get the traction and funding you need to get out of the bind you're in (or so you think).
This makes for some exquisite tension in the team. Yes, you're all passionate and all committed to delivering a quality product that'll take the world (or the little piece you're going after) by storm, but time's a-slipping even when the team's putting in 18-hour days, so what's an entrepreneur to do?
I believe now's when you need your values and focus, the stuff you can measure your decisions and actions by, and makes it easier for your team to accept.
- Customer focus. This is why you don't settle just for what's technically faster or easier to deliver, but what will really make a difference to the customer. It's why you should weigh every option and reject it if it would take away from the user experience.
- Excellence and integrity. The reason you don't want to put out a shoddy piece of work, even if it is only a prototype.
- People focus. It's one thing for everyone to work hard because they want to make a deadline, but there are times when you may have to move the deadline because working long hours continuously only burns people out (and also diminishes quality and productivity).
- Staying hungry. If you, like Steve Jobs, believe hunger keeps you sharp, you don't want to go too soft on either your deadlines or you deliverables. And for many startups, hunger is real - they need to make their deliverables, and do it fast, in order to get funding which will help them eat (OK, so no one's starving, but maybe the team hopes to dine on something better than a large 1 topping pizza - $3 off with coupon). You need to be zipping along, not coasting.
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