When something doesn’t work how many times do you ask “why”?

I take no credit for this approach, I’m just communicating it because I think it is incredibly valuable.

Ask why 5 times – from The Lean Startup by Eric Ries.

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Here’s an example:

A customer complains that you are late with delivery of their new website.

Why did this happen?
You didn’t clarify the delivery date with the customer.

You apologise to the customer and move on.

You asked why once, and fixed the immediate issue. But what about the cause?

Let’s try again…

Why did this happen?
You didn’t clarify the delivery date with the customer.

Why didn’t you clarify the delivery date with the customer?
You’d mentioned a couple of dates, then things changed.

Why did things change?
You delivered a mock-up with a date, then the customer made some changes that impacted the date.

Why did the date change?
You failed to get the customer to give you their full requirements up front.

Why did you fail to get the customer’s full requirements up front?
You have no mechanism to capture this information.

Leading too…

How can you rectify this?
Create a simple customer requirements capture questionnaire, to get the information you need at the start of the project.

What happens now?
You create the questionnaire. Refine it over time and this leads to happier customers.

If you asked why once you would never have solved the root cause of the problem.

By asking why 5 times you could quash the cause and make an iterative improvement to your company.

Do you need to ask why more?

Are you running low on energy?

Or…

Are you running low on energy for a given task?

Just as we shouldn’t expect a one-size-fits-all approach to clothing, education or customer service, we can’t expect to have the right type of energy for a given task at a given time.

Perhaps one of the biggest productivity boosts you could give yourself would be to work on what you have the energy for now.

Now, I have the energy for a quick article.

Next, I have the energy for a bit of admin.

This morning I had the energy to read and do some design.

I might take a nap in a bit.

The key is to work on the things that you have the nowergy for.

It’s hard to decide.

Do you stick at something or quit?

There’s a saying in many walks of life that people are on the verge of success when they quit. Just sticking it out a bit longer would get them over the hump and to the success of their dreams.

Of course this doesn’t mean that you must stick and everything. Not everything is worth sticking at.

So how are you to decide?

Well, it helps if you can focus. Find one thing to stick at for now and try to be the best at it that you can be.

Work out the criteria around which you will choose to stick or quit.

Note this should be based on enjoyment more than monetary gain. It should also focus on how you are creating something incredible and how you can make change happen.

With focus and relentless pursuit of vision you should be able to define whether something is worth sticking at or quitting.

My guitar that I’ve had for years and was cheaper than ones I’ve bought more recently is still my favourite. It just works.

Sometimes that new system the company implements doesn’t work. Really it doesn’t. Sometimes even pen and paper is better than a thousand options and a million SQL crashes.

The simple things in life are all that is really necessary. Food, shelter, warmth, community. It was the same 10,000 years ago as today.

New stuff is great. Moving forward is fantastic. Embracing the new is essential in digital business.

We must never forget that sometimes the old established system, product or way of working is best.

The trick is to spot which of all the possible (and sometimes untested) ways of working are the best for your business.

If that’s the old way that’s cool.

If it’s the new way that’s cool.

Just make sure you constantly strive to find the best way.

I’ve made a personal commitment to write here every day.

Some days this is more difficult than others. Like today for example, I’m only able to get to the laptop for a few minutes (note this is a good thing).

But I’ve made a commitment to write here every day.

You can’t commit to too many things. I know this, because in the past I have and it has resulted in me not meeting my commitments.

This year I’m committing to less so I can commit to them fully.

Make sure that you only commit to things that you can really commit to (100%).

This will make you:
- More trustworthy and reliable (worth working with)
- More focused on what really matters
- Stand out from people who do the normal thing of dropping commitments

Commit to less, don’t deliver less on your commitments.

This morning I unsubscribed from some more emails.

Anything that isn’t serving a valid purpose in my life was cut. Some things (very few) were switched to RSS as a more efficient delivery mechanism for me now.

The main thing to get the cull – daily deals.

Groupon (and their competitors) came very quickly from nowhere with a new and exciting business model.

Cleverly utilising the principles of permission marketing, scarcity and social proof they quickly built a massive base of loyal fans.

I was one. I am no longer.

The problem with a fast growing technology company is that it needs to constantly evolve.

Groupon has not.

I want restaurant deals and activity deals. The lions share of what I get is detox days, teeth whitening and cosmetic surgery.

Just because Groupons lists are massive means some of these will land. But large segments of the list are not targeted accurately enough.

I would like to have seen clever filtering based on my click throughs. Personalisable options like Netflix and opting out certain deal types.

It still hasn’t come. I unsubscribed.

If something isn’t landing for you, eliminate it.

That goes for my work too.

Something that people get way too bogged down in is finding their passion.

I’ve written before (and it’s a popular article) about why finding your passion might not be your route to riches.

If you can make your passion your financial backbone then great – go for it.

Understand that the people who manage to do this are few and far between.

Stop stressing about it.

Instead find something in your work that you can be passionate about.

It’s likely that you are passionate about more than one thing. Why limit yourself to one?

Accept that no matter what, you’ll still have to do the boring stuff.

One of my simple pleasures is to lie in a hot bath and read a good book.

For this moment it doesn’t matter if that bath is in a millionaires home, a simple hotel room. It doesn’t matter if the book was purchased on the latest gadget or picked up in a second (or fourth, fifth) hand shop.

What matters is the moment.

I’m passionate about people having better websites. My passion is to travel. I use the former to fund the latter.

Simple.

Love what you do.

It never fails to surprise me how stand-offish and unethusiastic some of the shop owners in our local town can be.

These people aren’t rude. They just don’t make you feel warm and fuzzy when you buy stuff from them.

Local shops are having a tough time. The economy doesn’t make it easy and most things can be purchased online or at a supermarket often cheaper.

What makes local businesses, and soloprenuers online stand out is their friendly service and personal brand.

People want to do business with people they like.

A smile costs nothing, and it will help increase your sales.

It doesn’t have to be too freaky. Just a natural smile.

That’s all very well in person, but what about online? Add a big picture of yourself to your website, with a smile. I feel that a natural shot rather than a professional head shot works best. Don’t forget to smile!

Here I talk about lots of things to do better business. Add the simple thought to smile more to your arsenal.

Even if it doesn’t increase your sales, it’ll make you happier.