It has been a while since my last post, busy end of the year, which is good to say the least. While the recession has still been a hot topic, I have been asked my many people in the technology industry, "How have I maintained a steady flow of projects?". The answer is simple and yet many do not seem to understand the angle if you will of purposed technology. I have talked in previous posts about how to drive adoption of solutions, what type of impact the user experience has and how to leverage business challenges to create opportunities. So this, as like other posts, will follow along the same train of thought, though a turbulent ride...it should provide some clarity in to how one creates a solution that not only addresses critical business issues, but does so in a way that the end users would be left paralyzed without it. First, strip out everything you know of a technology from your head, easy right? Before we look at how we can create a compelling solution, we must first become solution agnostic. Many find this difficult as we have been educated by the Microsoft's, Oracle's, IBM's and HP's of the world to identify solving a problem with a given technology. However, I make my living by forgetting as much as possible about these platforms, CRM's, xRM's and CMS's as possible. The reason being, when you do not identify a platform to a problem, you are thus removing the limitations of the technology from the start.
When company ABC needs a powerful content management system that can also publish content outside a firewall, say, to an Internet site, one would be equally right as well as equally wrong to propose a technology like Kentico or WordPress. The reason being, company ABC is only identifying two scenarios in what may be, thirty scenarios that the technology may improve business operations. However, if prior to proposing or thinking about what type of platform may be used, you are able to walk through with the client all of the different scenarios, work flows and use cases, the end result is going to be a much more refined and focused discussion around technology and development thereof to achieve the true business needs. Not all technology can do everything, in fact, the best platforms are one’s that can be customized and designed from a much broader base. When looking at the technology itself, if it has been purposed for one thing it may not do something else quite as well. You may not be able to develop certain components as easily as a platform that has been “designed to be designed”.
Look at the issues a company is facing, look at what they are trying to achieve and understand the initiatives long term. Once you have done that, then ask why, ask who it affects, ask when they plan to incorporate future builds, ask questions that pertain to long term growth of their technology all while hiding your eyes from focusing on a particular technology. Rather, look at the best technology to develop, if you try and make it fit, it will not, if you architect it to fit, it will. By becoming solution agnostic and focusing on the real challenges, your projects will increase in value, drive a higher rate of adoption and promote technology growth with less limitations within the clients infrastructure. Not to mention, you will be designing some killer solutions that promote your companies brand as being a leader in what they do, and who doesn’t want to be at the front of that movement!
