Tooling & Automation
There's a deep sense of satisfaction to using tools that are designed specifically for the job at hand.
Tooling is about having software support business critical processes and activities, and the primary concerns are efficiency and reliability.
Ideally, though, they are also intuitive and fun to use. I love to surprise people with tools that inspire good work.
Generic tools are suboptimal
Most business tools today are built and sold with scale in mind, primarily catering to larger companies where budgets are large and staff well organized by distinct functions.
Smaller companies often end up using generic tools to accomplish quite specialized and repetitive tasks. And unless everyone involved are generally adept with IT, these tools stay generic and are never shaped to actually fit the needs of the business.
Working ON vs IN your business
This is probably the most used metaphor in the space of small business coaching. It speaks to the desire of many business owners to create freedom for themselves while working on something meaningful.
Working IN your business means doing all the things required operationally, often because you yourself have a certain skillset and interest.
Working ON your business means creating systems and organizing work so that anyone can perform it effectively.
IT tooling and automation is all about working ON your business.
It's about how you can start to remove yourself from the trivial parts of daily operations. And it's about mitigating the risk of having employees using so many generic tools in their own unique way that you become increasingly dependent on them.
Your business on rails
If your business is mature enough to warrant more structured processes and perhaps a bit of automation, then I am here to blow your mind with what’s possible.
Creating solid and specialized tools will elevate both business potential and profitability by increasing speed and accuracy of critical activities.
This is my favorite space to work in, because 1) it is easy to prove actual impact, and 2) most people are easy to impress in this area. I get to do what I do best, while receiving much more appreciation for my work than other typical areas of development.
Building tools and automation is like going from moving things by horse and carriage to shipping by train. Not everything is suited for it. Some processes are better kept manual and flexible, but many can benefit greatly from structure and automation.
If you're ready for it, then I am here to help you get your business on rails. Beyond improving your bottom line, this often frees up significant energy and time for the aspects of your business that truly excite you.
When to start tooling
It makes no sense to worry about tools and automation until you actually know what processes need to run repeatedly and how. If your business is still in its infancy, not yet delivering consistently, it’s best to postpone tooling for later.
But once you start to grow, it makes sense to also start examining your day-to-day operations, identifying what critical activities can be streamlined, improved, and perhaps automated.
Regardless of whether IT tooling proves worth it, the process of understanding and articulating core activities is always beneficial. But again, if you try to define these too soon, you'll be making a bunch of assumptions that later likely turn out to be flawed.