Protecting your brand with Software Organization & Tech Products in mind
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After reading the Inc. article below on protecting company brand, I had additional thoughts on points 1, 3 and 4 with Software Organization & Tech Products in mind:
#1 Avoid changes that may compromise quality or image. ================ FIX-WHAT’S-BROKEN OR PILE-ON-MORE? * Common budget conflicts occur over new features versus upgrading/fixing issues. Adding new capabilities while the product still doesn't work as advertised damages the brand.
SERVICE OUTAGE AND BRAND * Do root cause analysis and corrective action on issues: get better. Enforce change control policies. Test your deployment and have the choice to roll-back changes.
#3 Recognize that employee morale impacts your brand. ================ GIVE YOUR SUPPORT STAFF ATTENTION * People tend to ignore support/call center staff, but often they're the customer's first in-person contact. Be sure they are taken care of. * How is the relationship between the software group and the support group? There are big wins lurking there if they work together.
MORALE DRAIN OF A BROKEN/FRAGILE SYSTEM * When the system is having issues and the team isn’t sponsored to fix it, it is a morale drain: band-aids on top of band-aids, late nights, and impacted customers. * Investments made keeping the system healthy is a good long-term $ play. Ask your team for a few important weekly/monthly health-metric numbers.
OVERCOMMITTING * When the team is overcommitting and missing deliveries, it’s a nasty cycle of fire-drills and upsets. Talk about a morale killer. Foster a culture of reality and honesty. Reward both "yes"'s and honest "no"'s that help the product.
PERSONAL TOUCH! * Agreeing with the article to ask employees for feedback. 1-on-1's are effective.
#4 Never argue with customers, public or private. ================ MEASURE & MONITOR: Know what your customer’s experience of the product BEFORE they call or complain publicly. Set up the visibility and product monitoring you need and reach out proactively. How often could that head things off?
INVOLVE THEM: Get your key customers involved in early testing: the sooner the better to validate you are solving their real problems and expose any issues.
ADMIT TO ISSUES AND INCLUDE IN ROOT CAUSE / CORRECTIVE ACTION FEEDBACK: A little humility goes a long way. Admitting you/or your team made a mistake and describing what you're doing to manage or to eliminate the issue buys a ton of customer loyalty and it actually improves your brand. People forget that customers are people too, they have their own disasters to manage, and they realize that mistakes do happen. But what really irritates them is when a vendor won't admit what really happened, does not include the customer on root cause analysis, and basically tries to sugar coat it all.
Thanks for help from my friends on drafting this post. Feedback welcome.
#1 Avoid changes that may compromise quality or image.
================
FIX-WHAT’S-BROKEN OR PILE-ON-MORE?
* Common budget conflicts occur over new features versus upgrading/fixing issues. Adding new capabilities while the product still doesn't work as advertised damages the brand.
SERVICE OUTAGE AND BRAND
* Do root cause analysis and corrective action on issues: get better. Enforce change control policies. Test your deployment and have the choice to roll-back changes.
#3 Recognize that employee morale impacts your brand.
================
GIVE YOUR SUPPORT STAFF ATTENTION
* People tend to ignore support/call center staff, but often they're the customer's first in-person contact. Be sure they are taken care of.
* How is the relationship between the software group and the support group? There are big wins lurking there if they work together.
MORALE DRAIN OF A BROKEN/FRAGILE SYSTEM
* When the system is having issues and the team isn’t sponsored to fix it, it is a morale drain: band-aids on top of band-aids, late nights, and impacted customers.
* Investments made keeping the system healthy is a good long-term $ play. Ask your team for a few important weekly/monthly health-metric numbers.
OVERCOMMITTING
* When the team is overcommitting and missing deliveries, it’s a nasty cycle of fire-drills and upsets. Talk about a morale killer. Foster a culture of reality and honesty. Reward both "yes"'s and honest "no"'s that help the product.
PERSONAL TOUCH!
* Agreeing with the article to ask employees for feedback. 1-on-1's are effective.
#4 Never argue with customers, public or private.
================
MEASURE & MONITOR: Know what your customer’s experience of the product BEFORE they call or complain publicly. Set up the visibility and product monitoring you need and reach out proactively. How often could that head things off?
INVOLVE THEM: Get your key customers involved in early testing: the sooner the better to validate you are solving their real problems and expose any issues.
ADMIT TO ISSUES AND INCLUDE IN ROOT CAUSE / CORRECTIVE ACTION FEEDBACK: A little humility goes a long way. Admitting you/or your team made a mistake and describing what you're doing to manage or to eliminate the issue buys a ton of customer loyalty and it actually improves your brand. People forget that customers are people too, they have their own disasters to manage, and they realize that mistakes do happen. But what really irritates them is when a vendor won't admit what really happened, does not include the customer on root cause analysis, and basically tries to sugar coat it all.
Thanks for help from my friends on drafting this post. Feedback welcome.