Hey folks,
I have been away for a while now. I have been busy trying to nail my thesis for a week and half and I have done 25 pages so far…(out of 85 minimum ahah 
I am not going to reveal when is the deadline because I am already too stressed out!
Instead I am going to discuss some real-world issues in this post ( I have been a bit cynical with academic bulls**t recently Something that come back to my mind very often is the fact that I am part of web startup company without knowing anything about coding nor design… Well, being in this situation does not look very comfortable at first glance. EXCEPT if you follow these simple lessons I got to learn in my first 6 weeks with PocketSmith:
- GOOD TIMING: (Good) Developers are always busy. Their brains are constantly focus on how they are going to fix this issue that prevent them to sleep. And more importantly, they don’t like to be interrupted when they are trying to fix something, especially if you are not a coder yourself (and French Consequently, make sure you spot the perfect time to speak with them. From my experience, the best time is just after they solve a problem (let them a minute to celebrate and then take advantage of their good mood!)
- GAP FILLING: Coders love to spend hours fixing bugs because they get to see their “baby” finally working ( = big satisfaction). Especially if what you are working on is as sexy as what Jas and James are doing! The more they dedicate their time on “hard-coding”, the less they will want to take care of other parts of the business. As the third-man, you role will then be to fill the gap this situation creates. For example, take care of the relationships with your bank, your accountant and your lawyer. Use PocketSmith to record money transactions for the company (useful to claim the GST back at the end of the year) Or set up a testing protocol to ensure the reliability of the solution. To sum up, take the ownership of missions your partners are to busy to do.
- ABILITY TO WORK BY YOURSELF: Because your partners are going to be busy, you need to be able to work by yourself. This exercise is not that simple as nobody is going to tell you what you have to do. Consequently, start by identifying what would be useful for the team to have. It could be a competitive analysis, a mail to alpha testers, a draft of the questionnaire you intend to submit or a simple graph with the major milestones of the project. Share and decide what you think is relevant with your partners and do it. Then share your results with the team!
- OPEN MIND: When Jas and James speak together, it takes a lot of efforts to actually get what are they talking about. First, they speak in english. Then, they use technical words that sounds like chinese to me! But you have to force yourself to understand the global meaning at least. Listen to them when you have a chance and do not be afraid to ask questions (not to much because coders dont have time
. Pick up some ideas, try to use the same vocabulary and level your knowledge up. I generally dont participate to discussion between Jas and James when they are coding BUT I do want to share my opinion about the useability of the product. If you want to offer solutions to be implemented, you need to have an idea (even roughly) of the feasability of this solution. Theoretically, everything I can think of is possible to code. However, our company has limited resources (time and people) so we have to voluntarily limit what we build. Having an idea of the complexity of a solution is in this case very useful! - USER VIEW: Coders and designers love their work. They build it from scratch and spend 12 hours a day making it perfect. But perfect does not mean perfect from a user point of view. By not being involved into the development process, I am an (almost) impartial user. Consequently, I can comment on the usebility of the product and make recommendations to improve the user experience. Happy happy user
Being honest, it is not easy everyday not being able to help the guys coding or designing. I would like to be part of the development process as it is so rewarding to see the result on the screen. Sometimes, I feel I am totally out of the conversation and isolated from the “core” of the company. But this position allows me to stand back and think about the big picture. And at the end of the day, the three of us have found a really good balance that make PocketSmith already successful. This unusual combination is our strengh. In PocketSmith we trust!
Well that’s a good thing to put in your thesis…Obviously you have already done it. U worth more than L’Oreal 2 in 1….Zorro Viejo….
[...] months ago, I wrote a blog post with the title “Five things to know and do when you’re the co-founder of a web startup while not being a devel…“. At this time, I was confident my energy and my skills would bring value to the business. [...]