You know that your products need to keep pace with changes in the market. You know too that sometimes you get stuck in a rut while the market takes a subtle, but significant, change of direction right under your feet.
The likelihood you will face this dilemma increases because of the way you describe what it is that you do. For example, you have probably answered the question, “What does your company (or product team) do?” with something like, “We write software.”
Statements like this are inadequate on at least two levels: Firstly, you don’t just ‘write software’; and secondly, the solutions you provide are useful to others-your users-in the context of their jobs. You should be able to express that in words.
Becoming your solution
A more helpful way of describing what you do starts with saying that you facilitate various processes. “We facilitate the civil litigation process,” may be something a document automation software producer says, for example.
When you start off a project you may choose to facilitate a process in a limited way, to get your product into the market as soon as possible. But as you do more work and gain more experience, you are able to expand the scope of the solutions you offer.
The word ‘facilitate’ helps in two seemingly opposite directions: It implies that you are not actually performing the process, so that you don’t have to cater for everything that could ever be part of that process. Conversely, the concept of facilitation is broad enough to encompass any part of the process you facilitate, particularly new areas you uncover either as the market, or your experience, grows; or both.
This way of thinking enables you to focus on what you do best in a particular process, while at the same time keeping your mind open to new opportunities.
It’s a good idea for each product to have a positioning statement, which is phrased: “For (target market) who (compelling reason to buy your product), our product is (product category) that (key benefit), which unlike (main competitor) our product (key differentiation).” (Call it an ‘elevator test’ if you will.) It’s a good thing for you and those on your product team to be able to quote this verbatim; to revisit this every morning before starting work. Then compare what you’re doing, or more likely should be doing, to honor this statement.
