skip to Main Content

The Mindset Software Products Mantra

I’ve been recently having a ton of fun podcasting for Mindset with Paul Modderman, Jen Gnerer, and Ethan Jewett.  If you haven’t already, search for MindsetNebula on your favorite podcast platform and revel in the genius of putting these 4 minds together on the internet (also read as please listen and laugh).  Something that came out of the last podcast is something I’ve been thinking about for a while now as it pertains to Mindset’s Products and what we strive to deliver.  

So in saying that, I want to introduce to you the Mindset Software Products mantra:  Easy to Use, Easy to Love!

Is that just marketing/sales lingo?  What does that mean?  Is there really ever a reason to love SAP software?   

If you just asked yourself questions like those after reading the mantra, GOOD, that’s exactly what I’m going to talk about in this blog!  Here goes…

Easy to use

Making a product that’s easy for end users to use is part of the Mindset DNA.  It’s in absolutely everything we do.  Solutions projects for customers, software products we create, we start with Design Thinking.  This is in an effort to find the real problem or pain point in a process area.  Doing this allows us to really focus on the end user, not on the reduction of clicks (but I also guarantee there’s a reduction of clicks in the end product).  

For our Mindset Software Products team though, it doesn’t end there.  For a “software product” to be easy to use at the corporate software level, it also has to be easy for an IT team to install, test, deploy, and support long term.  If the IT team is happy and excited to use a product, add-on, etc… because it is hard, that’s terrible.  I’m here to say that if you put the right thought behind all of these aspects of a product, it doesn’t have to be hard.  It can be thought of as easy in all of these different areas for all of these different people.  

Our product stakeholders are listed in order as follows:

  1. End User – This will never change
  2. IT Team – Someone needs to install and support the product over its life-span internally
  3. Business Sponsors
  4. IT Sponsors
  5. C-Suite

It’s not that we don’t think C-Suite people are very important in this process, but chances are if our products are being looked after by the CEO/CFO, then we haven’t made it easy enough for the other stakeholders in the list.  In thinking about that, that’s probably 90-95% of the cases for all IT related things.  If the CEO/CFO are talking about it, it may not be good news!

Easy to Love

What is it to “love” a product from a vendor?  To me, as an IT person formally from industry, it’s a product that I have installed and deployed to my end users and I don’t have to think about it.  My end users give good feedback about it, there are very little to no issues with using it, new features/updates seamlessly roll into my environment, and that’s it.  

To truly love a product as an end user, I feel like the most important part is that “It just works”.  Something that takes my mind off of the toolset/technology that I’m using and let’s me accomplish tasks easier than I did yesterday.  

Notice that nowhere in this blog did I mention a specific piece of breaking-edge technology.  We as a products team love delving into new tech. However, when it comes to a sustainable product we focus solely on what makes an end user love the experience.  Further, sometimes that includes AR/AI/IoT/Automation/OCR etc..etc… and we love to provide that.  Other times, you can solve even the largest pain points without any of these things.  Using tech for the sake of being able to say you use it, isn’t the answer.  

The real answer is to use technology when and where it makes sense.  Further, does it make the person’s life easier, will it break, is it sustainable or just a trend?  These are all questions we must answer before we put ground-breaking tech into products.  

Conclusion

In conclusion, that’s the basis of our “Easy to use, Easy to love” Software Products mantra.  If you have any questions on what we’re developing, how you can get involved, what you think of the way we’re going about this, please comment and/or reach out to me directly at jonathanbragg@mindsetconsulting.com

Thanks for reading, stay tuned for much more in the Mindset Software Products space!  

 

If you are interested in viewing similar articles, visit our blog, here

View our LinkedIn, here

As VP of Products at Mindset Consulting, Jon focuses on how organizations can quickly and easily maximize their SAP investments for improved results and happier employee, customer, and user experiences. A known industry thought he is a highly sought-after industry speaker and resource.

Back To Top