Thursday, December 27, 2018

Software Toolkit Companies: Take a Lesson From Home Meal Kits


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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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…!

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