Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos belongs to the group of people who particularly dislike wasting time on unproductive and unnecessary meetings. When he needs to organize something, he applies a rule that increases the chances that it will be useful. It’s the “two pizzas” rule. Why pizza? It’s easy. The more people attending a meeting, the less likely it is to be truly productive. Bezos advises: organize meetings with enough people for whom two pizzas are enough to eat. A large number of people in a meeting is not conducive to creativity at all.
Now that we know how many people to meet, is it enough for the solution to come by itself? Definitely not. When deciding to create FiveSoft, it was unanimously assumed that communication with the client must be outside the box, different from others. If we are to develop a product that will help the contractor in the operation of his business, the relationship must be a partnership, not a manufacturer/seller – customer. This is why our cooperation with the client begins not after the conversation and knowing all the details, but long before the first meeting. In order to meet expectations, we try to “get into the skin” of the client and notice the needs while looking for effective solutions. At the very beginning, we present a solution that constitutes the foundation for further joint work. We look for solutions, not problems – of course, taking into account possible threats. We are helped in this by short, specific questions sent to the client after receiving the inquiry. When expecting an answer, we do not require knowledge of programming issues, but general information about the project. Why are we doing this? To save the client’s time and be able to deliver the solution faster.
We also realize that modern technologies, complex programming processes and working in the IT world itself make many people outside the industry feel dizzy. We set ourselves a goal – to change the stereotypical image of software companies. We guarantee that we explain all processes in a simple way, understandable to everyone, even those who are not familiar with programming every day. We prove our knowledge, experience and effectiveness of the proposed solutions by their reliable implementation and not by using difficult language.
After each meeting, we send a short summary. We do this not because we are forgetful or think our Partners are. We do this so that our contractor can verify whether we have understood each other well and be able to evaluate our work during the next meeting – after all, we are not afraid of anything.
Following Jeff Bezos’s advice, when arranging a meeting, we involve only the necessary people. We try to make the conversation friendly and not like an interrogation by a jury. We are convinced that one or two people who want to find a 100% solution to the Partner’s problem are much more effective than several people not involved in the project.
If you want to convince yourself that this text is true, write to us. We will be happy to arrange an online meeting or a pizza – two at most.
Maciej Cebula
