Software toolkit companies often
struggle to build a vision of what outcomes are possible using their
tools. Customers are often confused by
statements from toolkit vendors such as:
Vendor Says: “You can build anything you want…!”
Customer Thinks: “I’m not sure what I need…”
Vendor Says: “You can monitor nearly everything…!”
Customer Thinks: “I don’t really know what to monitor – or why…”
Vendor Says: “You can glue all these things together…!”
Customer Thinks: “Why would I want to do that…?”
While Early Adopters “get it”
– they have the ability to generate their own vision of how these toolkits can
be used – sadly, nearly everyone else (roughly 85% of the population) don’t “get
it” – they need to see examples of the end result.
Consider home-delivered meal kit
companies – they have a similar challenge, but solve it readily – and what they
do provides a great example for software toolkit folks…!
What home meal kit companies don’t do is to show a list of
ingredients and invite consumers to decide what specific ingredients they want –
and how to put them together. That’s exactly one of the challenges that the
home meal kit firms have addressed. “I could
go to the market and get a bunch of stuff, but I have no idea what to make…”
Instead, home meal kits engage
by showing a weekly menu of completed, plated, delicious-looking meals – photos
of steaming, mouth-watering dishes, carefully plated and often displayed on
tablecloths with napkin, fork, and a glass of wine… A complete vision of the end result. No guesswork.
What does the customer
receive? The kit to make that specific
meal – with exactly the right ingredients, in the correct amounts, with step-by-step
instructions.
Software toolkit companies
can apply these same ideas:
- Generate Vision by showing the completed entity
that was built from the toolkit –
with a clear description of what the end-result is, how it would be used,
that the value gained through its use.
- Provide the “kit” that enables that end-result to
be created, along with clear instructions on how to execute.
In Great Demo! methodology,
these end-results are Illustrations – and showing a crisp example of a few
steps in the creation process might be a typical “Do It” pathway.
Bon appétit…!
