Monday, November 24, 2003
Customer Focused
Yeah, that's a big buzz word that you hear ALOT these days, but being able to satisfy the customer is what separates great companies from good ones. 3M HIS has been pushing being more customer centric for a couple of years now. For some time I've been reading John Porcaro's blog. He has great insights on how to do this and from time to time recommends a good book.
I now have another customer focused site to read, Church of the Customer (thanks, Kase). Great information.
Now, you may be asking some questions. How can I be customer focued? I'm not in marketing or sales. I'm a techie writing code. I NEVER see the person that buys or uses my software.
On my office wall is a poster from Despair.com. It has a picture of the leaning tower of Pisa and says "Mediocrity. It takes a lot less time and most people won't notice the difference until it's too late." So, the first thing you do is refuse to be mediocre. Your code should be of the best quality. Make sure you have written it in such a way that it can be maintained. Make sure you've fully unit tested it. Make sure it follows your company's coding and UI guidelines. Also, do your work efficiently and on schedule. Delays hurt the customer and drive up the cost. Also, consider your customers to also be the testers and QA people.
So, whenever you hear about being customer centric, think about it from your position. There is always a way that you can please the customer.
I now have another customer focused site to read, Church of the Customer (thanks, Kase). Great information.
Now, you may be asking some questions. How can I be customer focued? I'm not in marketing or sales. I'm a techie writing code. I NEVER see the person that buys or uses my software.
On my office wall is a poster from Despair.com. It has a picture of the leaning tower of Pisa and says "Mediocrity. It takes a lot less time and most people won't notice the difference until it's too late." So, the first thing you do is refuse to be mediocre. Your code should be of the best quality. Make sure you have written it in such a way that it can be maintained. Make sure you've fully unit tested it. Make sure it follows your company's coding and UI guidelines. Also, do your work efficiently and on schedule. Delays hurt the customer and drive up the cost. Also, consider your customers to also be the testers and QA people.
So, whenever you hear about being customer centric, think about it from your position. There is always a way that you can please the customer.
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