I’m guilty of using this phrase:
Which leaves the question: can I be trusted as an engineer? I hope so…
Tags: Dilbert
In software development it’s often more important to figure out what people actually want, rather than how best to “engineer it.” According to Drucker:
There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer.
…
Because its purpose is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two – and only these two – base functions: marketing and innovation. (p. 19, The Essential Drucker)
Although, I suspect Drucker could easily be accused of over-simplification, I love the simplicity. There are only two things, not twelve or twenty things as might be found in other business best-sellers. There are simply two functions: marketing and innovation.
Drucker does define these functions differently than one might think:
- Marketing: “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or services fits him and sells itself.” Marketing in Drucker’s definition has little to do with advertising, but rather focuses more on understanding the market.
- Innovation: Drucker does not just mean just research and development, but also innovation in how the product is built, advertised, and sold. Innovation, therefore, is not just a term for engineering, but it also what the rest of the organization does to built a product efficiently and run the very same organization efficiently.
As an software engineer, it is easy to concentrate on innovation. After all, making the whole process computerized and optimized is second nature to engineers. However, we have to remember that there is this other function: understanding the needs and desires of the market.
Marketing is important, but is not trivial. It is challenging. Sometimes customers and sales people can offer substantial amount of information about market demands. This information is extremely important, but it is not enough. Customers and their salespeople are often blinded by their own current perception of needs. It is like Ford’s famous quote: “if I asked the customer what he wanted, he would have said a faster horse.” We need to anticipate beyond the customer’s stated needs rather than simply looking at feature lists and requests.