The Overview #19

This week: Interrogating problems, the ABC of comms, and adapting your process to suit initiatives

👋 Hey there. This is The Overview, a weekly roundup of noteworthy B2B SaaS stuff. You'll find interesting tweets and articles from around the internet, plus highlights from my personal swipe file.

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Are you adapting your process?

TBM 37/52: Bet Taxonomy (Roll Your Own)

Before starting an initiative, think:

What details about an initiative will dictate how we work, how we make decisions, how we think about risk, and how we think about what progress looks like?

This is a great post from John. At growing businesses, you’ll work on many different projects at different stages in their lifecycle, from initial validation to scale. The ways you work should change to best support your goals and requirements. They should not remain the same, just because that’s “that’s how we do it”.

Interrogating the problem

Tim Casasola @timcasasola

If your problem statement is “[This persona] lacks [this solution that we coincidentally made]” Then… you have more work to do in framing the problem

I have seen this with every startup I’ve worked with. Always dig deeper into the jobs, gains, pains, and triggers your customer is working with to understand the true source of their problems — and ultimately the value you can deliver.

It’s not enough to take their statements at face-value.

Let’s take an example. Say a customer wants to ‘respond to customer support requests fast’. That could be because:

a) they want to provide a great customer experience
b) their CEO cares about response times
c) they want to get support done, and go back to doing their other work

All equally valid motivations - but could have a big impact on your product strategy, positioning, and sales approach.

Ask why!

One skill every marketer should develop

James Doman-Pipe @JDomanPipe

One skill every marketer must develop? How to explain complex concepts in a way that is ABC. - Accurate - Brief - Clear

Adding in one of my recent tweets because it resonated with a lot of marketers.

In a journalism class I took once, the lecturer talked about the importance of ABC (Accuracy, Brevity, Clarity) in communication.

And it’s something that a lot of marketers — or really, everyone in a business who works with people — could do to improve.

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That’s the Overview for this week

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Thanks for reading, and here’s to building momentum.

James

P.S. Here’s a lil’ something we could all do with remembering:

Joél Leon. @JoelakaMaG

please, take risks. please, take up space. please, be as beautiful as you know you can be. please, ignore the haters in your mind. please, keep testing the boundaries of the art you both make and enjoy. please, fall in love again. please, live.