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CXDojo is a channel about technology and all things related to product strategy and development. Get your daily dose of tech and business news and insights! Cooperation: @cxdojo_inc
#filmoftheday
🚀 How do entrepreneurs turn a pure idea into a profitable business?
There’s no uniform scenario that will work well for everyone. Some travel a long way, full of planning, completing a series of funding rounds, and pivoting. Others just start it as a joke or DIY project, which then transforms into a full-scale business 💰
Forbes has published a video about young and successful small business owners, where they share their stories. They aim to help you take your passion or side hustle and turn it into a prospering business. After all, everyone starts somewhere 😉
👉 Check out the movie
#bookoftheweek
🧐 What do successful entrepreneurs and chess grandmasters have in common?
They always anticipate their next moves. As an entrepreneur, you can’t afford to take it as it comes. You need to know what to do next at all times. That’s why seasoned entrepreneurs excel at strategic planning. After making a certain move, they already know what another series of moves will be for different scenarios of the market response 🚦
In order to be better at accomplishing your goals in business, Patrick Bet-David recommends that you master the following 5️⃣ moves:
1️⃣ Master knowing yourself. Self-awareness gives you the power of choice and control over your actions because you’ll align them with knowing who you ultimately want to be.
2️⃣ Master the ability to reason. You need to have a certain methodology in place in order to process issues and make decisions you face on the way.
3️⃣ Master building the right team. People working with you must be your allies; such a team can keep your business moving and generating profit.
4️⃣ Master strategy to scale. To achieve exponential growth, you need to know which systems will allow you to gain and maintain momentum, as well as constantly measure their performance.
5️⃣ Master power plays. You will have to compete with established companies in the market. To shift the power, beat the Goliath by offering better value to customers.
Learn about these moves in greater detail in Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy 📚
#podcastoftheday
💡 We often mention the Lean Startup methodology in our posts and articles. The idea behind it is a build-measure-learn feedback loop. To begin the process of learning, you need to develop a minimum version (MVP) of your product-to-be, meaning it should only have one or two core features. It is enough for launching the MVP into the market and proving whether it is viable 👍 or not 👎
Bringing principles from lean manufacturing and agile development to the process of innovation, the Lean Startup helps companies succeed in a business landscape riddled with risk. How? No one can explain it better than the author of the methodology 😉
Listen to Eric Ries explaining how to apply the Lean Startup methodology during Talks at Google 🎙
👉 Check out the podcast
#cxdojo_design
Today is a special day for all Ukrainians - the Defenders Day 🇺🇦
Every day, our defenders protect their motherland and fight in the russo-Ukrainian War.
We wish each of them to return home and live in a peaceful and free country 🙏
Glory to Ukraine!
#bookoftheweek
🤔 Are you a manager? Can you tell whether you are a great manager or an average one?
According to Julie Zhuo, “if the job is defined as getting better outcomes from a group of people working together, then a great manager’s team will consistently achieve great outcomes.” So it’s not about you being the best at the respective activity within a company — be it design, development, or PR, it’s about you being the best at organizing the team so it can consistently succeed 🚀
But it’s not the only prerequisite. You also need to do a good job at assembling that team and helping it grow. It’s the manager’s responsibility to make sure people are satisfied and happy working together 🙌
So, are you a great manager?
If you have doubts, check The Making of a Manager, a book written by Julie Zhuo, who leads the teams behind some of the most popular projects in Silicon Valley. It is a modern field guide packed full of everyday examples and transformative insights 👍
#cxdojo_blog
📌 What is the role of user stories in digital product development?
User stories outline product requirements in a way that is understandable for both business and the development team 🤝 If written properly, user stories help the business owner immediately see the result of implementing particular functionality. At the same time, they allow the development team to be more flexible when choosing technical solutions and meeting customer expectations ✅
Below, you will find a comprehensive guide to writing user stories with examples from the real project completed by CXDojo ⤵️
👉 Click to read
#cxdojo_blog
Tech in law firms ⚖️
Even if you already use legal tech, chances are you use the wrong one. And those chances are pretty high. 70% of digital transformations fail because companies implement technologies that do not fit their unique internal processes 🚫
Technology itself must not be your end goal, it’s just a means of achieving a clear business or customer outcome ✅ So before implementing any tech in your law firm, ask yourself what problems you are trying to solve and how it can help you serve your clients better 🤝
In our new article, we focus on legal technology trends that work well for both your business and your clients ⤵️
👉 Click to read
#bookoftheweek
📚 What is radical candor in the context of leadership?
If literally, it means being direct and honest with the team, their progress, and their failures. Note however that it has nothing to do with bullying or aggressive management. It is about balancing care for your colleagues with being clear about where they need to improve ✅
A radically candid leader is interested in helping people on their team to grow. They focus on praise but at the same time, don't shy away from criticism if it helps a person reach new heights in their career 🚀
Kim Scott is a highly successful leader in Silicon Valley. She wrote this book to share simple tactics and frameworks that you, as a leader, can use to create a healthy culture in the workplace 🤝
It’s a must-read for novice managers who feel lost in their new role, as well as seasoned managers that want to improve team engagement and retention. Still, it will be helpful for anyone looking to become a better leader 🎯
#cxdojo_blog
🤔 What is technical debt?
According to the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, “it’s the tradeoff between the short-term benefit of rapid delivery and long-term value.” Another perspective comes from Atlassian: “technical debt is the difference between what was promised and delivered.” In other words, it’s prioritizing speed and delivery over perfect code ⚖️
So is it bad? Yes and no 🤷 We are used to considering technical debt as something unacceptable. But in fact, 99% of projects have a certain amount of it. What’s really important is how you deal with it. Find the practical tips for managing tech debt in our article 🤫
👉 Click to read
#podcastoftheday
The game of business is an infinite game 🤹♀️
But the companies playing it don’t actually know what they are in. They are striving to become number one and take great pains to beat the competition 🤼 But what they don’t understand is that the goal is not in beating the competitor, but in outlasting them. The infinite players don’t compete against their rivals, they compete against themselves 🤫
Watch Simon Sinek, the bestselling author on leadership, expanding on what it’s like to be a finite vs infinite business player during Talks at Google ⤵️
👉 Check out the podcast
#cxdojo_design
Modern life is dynamic and busy. People have to move fast switching between multiple tasks — both at home and at work. To make their lives less chaotic and manage time effectively, many use calendar apps 🗓
Here’s an interface design for the iOS-based calendar app. It is not heavy on features, yet comes with the essentials that any user might expect — i.e. the ability to create scheduled events, get notifications, and manage the to-do list by swiping. We’ve also divided the tasks into personal and work-related so the user can easily filter them when necessary ✅
👉 Check it out on our Dribbble
#podcastoftheday
Lean Startup or Design Thinking 🤔
Companies, both big and small, have been using these two concepts to tackle big problems. As a refresher, here are the ideas behind each of them as described by the founders ⤵️
🚀 Eric Ries, The Lean Startup: “The Lean Startup method teaches you how to drive a startup — how to steer, when to turn, and when to persevere — and grow a business with maximum acceleration. It is a principled approach to new product development.”
💡 Tim Brown, IDEO: “Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.”
What are the differences and similarities between the two approaches? Learn in the video from Google for Entrepreneurs featuring both leaders 🙌
👉 Check out the podcast
#Insights
There’s no question that your business needs software to succeed. After all, the modern digital era calls for digital solutions in every domain. Today, software is an essential tool that powers critical business functions, which might otherwise be impossible 🚫
☝️ Yet, the question is: Does your business need proprietary software? Or ready-made mass-promoted tools will do?
We recommend that you weigh the pros and cons before making a final decision ⚖️
Pros
🟢 You’ll have exactly the features you need and the platform is adapted to your particular business processes
🟢 It can save you money in the long term and thus, make your business more efficient
🟢 It gives you a competitive advantage in customer service and day-to-day operations
🟢 You have more control and flexibility over how the platform is built and how it functions
Cons
🔴 It may take months before you have a working version of the software, which can interrupt your business
🔴 Building software is expensive upfront, especially for an innovative robust platform
🔴 Don’t forget to count in ongoing costs like software maintenance and support
If it feels tough to make an objectively correct decision, don’t hesitate to ask for the advice of expert development team 😉
💡 Source: Forbes
#filmoftheday
🤝 How important is the community for startups?
Everyone knows Silicon Valley, even those who have nothing to do with technology at all. It is the USA’s biggest high-tech center, where billions are made. But few know about Canada’s Waterloo, home to a tech community with its own reputation for success 🚀
Waterloo has managed to preserve a great startup culture by maintaining a very supportive ecosystem. The community holds regular meetups, conferences, and funding rounds, where newbie entrepreneurs can partner with mentors and investors who help them grow 🪴
Today, it’s not easy to build a company from the ground up without proper guidance, so the community of peers can become a real competitive advantage 🎯
👉 Check out the movie
#Insights
🗿 What is digital employee experience?
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, companies have been forced to embrace a more flexible, connected workplace powered by smart technologies. But this shift has brought a new challenge — i.e. ensuring that the technology is used effectively 🚀
Digital employee experience (DEX) shows how employees interact with various technologies and how they feel about them 🎭 Employees who find it difficult to use technology for completing tasks are less productive and less satisfied with their work routine. So, they are more inclined to leave the company. And given the current talent shortage, your business can unlikely afford to lose team members 🚨
Instead, you should work on fine-tuning your DEX strategy 🆙
How can DEX tools and services help?
🔹 Collect employee sentiment data
🔹 Integrate team and organizational structure data
🔹 Provide actionable insights into the employee experience
The DEX reports cover a range of use cases including identification of tech issues, suggestions for their troubleshooting, automation of repetitive tasks, and analysis of major performance indicators 📊
💡 Source: ComputerWorld
Sounds promising. What do you think?
📆 30 October–4 November - CXDojo is attending IBA Annual Conference 2022 in Miami 🙌
Our CEO Anatoly Kotlyar will be there for networking and good time: https://www.ibanet.org/conference-details/CONF2137 😉
#Insights
🤝 Do you work with outsourced teams?
It comes with so many benefits — lower costs, higher efficiency, skilled talent, etc. ✅ But how do you treat those teams?
Managing the outsourced team requires the same level of care and attention as managing your in-house team. You can’t simply hire it and forget. In order to nurture a strong long-term partnership with the external team, you need to keep them engaged, help them grow, and set high standards 🚀
👉 To keep your outsourced teams engaged, make sure to 1) onboard them by describing your company's culture, values, and goals; 2) implement training and knowledge-sharing programs; 3) introduce them to your in-house team and hold regular team-building events; 4) monitor their satisfaction level to make timely improvements.
👉 Consider creating a growth path in which exceptional results convert into better work opportunities. Also, celebrate their milestones and achievements.
👉 Your outsourced teams should have similar KPIs to your in-house teams. This makes the results of their work predictable and helps maintain the overall efficiency of your business.
💡 Source: Entrepreneur
#cxdojo_services
🤫 What do clients say about CXDojo?
“We've started our collaboration with only two developers, and as of today, we've already worked with 15 engineers. Our product is constantly evolving, and CXDojo helps us to grow and maintain it. In addition, they provide us with software architecture solutions and automation testing.
They are very adjustable to our needs, and this is something we looked for at the beginning.”
— Bret Gregersen
Read the full review on Clutch 👇
👉 Click to read
#Insights
What’s the key goal of any business? — Revenue growth 💰
After all, businesses are created to earn money, and that’s normal. But today, steady growth is indeed tough to achieve because of intense competition, global financial crisis, and other factors 🤷♀️
Having studied the growth patterns of the sample companies, McKinsey & Company comes up with the following rules of value-creating growth:
1️⃣ Put competitive advantage first: you need to establish a distinctive business model and then scale it.
2️⃣ Make the trend your friend: your investments should go to fast-growing segments of your market niche.
3️⃣ Turbocharge your core: unlocking the growth potential of your operating model is the key to increasing your revenue.
4️⃣ Grow where you know: you need to research the adjacent segments similar to your core and expand to them as well.
5️⃣ Go global if you can beat local: before expanding to the global market, your company should try and win in the local market first.
💡 Source: McKinsey & Company
Do you agree?
👍 👎
#Insights
Accessibility-first approach in UX design — make it a new normal ⚠️
Tech is still lagging in the inclusion revolution. And this means that companies offering digital products are losing a huge subset of users because they can’t utilize those products to the fullest 🤔
These days, effective design must equal accessible design. And here are some recommendations for making your product intuitive for different categories of users ⏩
⭐️ Conduct usability tests and have conversations with a broad variety of users to obtain different perspectives.
⭐️ To feel natural, accessibility features must be planned into the interface design from the project’s outset, and not as a post-release addition.
⭐️ Keep mobile devices’ native behaviors and responses in mind when designing web apps.
⭐️ Ensure that the palette you use does not cause negative color-contrast effects and that all elements on a page are legible for users with different eye conditions.
⭐️ Allow a margin of error around smaller touch targets, so users with reduced fine motor control can still trigger the interaction.
💡 Source: Developer Tech
#podcastoftheday
How to set goals the way Google does?
Use OKRs — objectives and key results 🎯 There are 2 questions that you need to answer in order to get started:
❓ Where do I want to go? — this is your objective and it can be ambitious.
❓ How will I pace myself to see if I am getting there? — these are your key results and they must be measurable.
It is better to first decide on organizational objectives so that teams and individuals can support them by setting their own goals. This is how you motivate employees to contribute to the overall company’s growth 🚀
In this workshop, Rick Klau, a partner at Google Ventures, talks about the key attributes of effective OKRs and how to apply them in your own organization ✅
👉 Check out the podcast
#cxdojo_services
🤫 What do clients say about CXDojo?
“CXDojo has been an invaluable partner. Starting as a solopreneur, I struggled to bring my MVP to life.
CXDojo helped find and assign the perfect engineer for my project. We've worked closely ever since for over 6 months now, and the results have been remarkable. ""If you want to go somewhere fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
— Leigh Balkom
Read the full review on TrustPilot 👇
👉 Click to read
#Insights
СТО is not simply the tech brains of your company 🙅
People on the outside often have a stereotyped understanding of the duties chief technology officers perform. They view a CTO as a techie-centric leader obsessed with hard-core technology 🤖 But in reality, it’s only a small area of their focus. Here are 3 CTOs talking about their role 👇
🎯 “CTOs are not just experts; they are connectors, enablers, influencers and, in many cases, owners and delivery vehicles for real-world technology strategy and innovation.” — John Roese, Dell Technologies
🎯 “For me, it is also about value creation and where the engineering part of the leadership is key. It is about connecting the dots to innovate and working backwards to engineer consumer and business value.” — Raji Subramanian, Opendoor
🎯 “The ability to anticipate, adapt and influence the future of a product based on what a customer could potentially want down the road is becoming increasingly critical for CTOs looking to influence the long-term trajectory of their organizations.” — Rob Lee, Pure Storage
💡 Source: Protocol
#cxdojo_design
Do you know what an app without design looks like? It is akin to all those early table-based computer programs that have little to no visual accents.
We’ve recently worked on one such app. Although the app was live with over 1000 users on board, it lacked UI/UX design as it is. It attracted only those, who are no stranger to tech and thus, are not repelled by the interface complexity and the abundance of features.
Our task was to enhance the app’s usability by means of UI/UX design 😉
👉 Check it out on Behance
#cxdojo_blog
💡 Too many articles are written on customer experience and its strategic importance for business. Great customer experience is the new normal — every business owner knows it and ensures that CX is part of the overall brand’s strategy ✅ So why talk about it yet again?
A recent survey shows that 80% of brands indeed think they deliver a superior customer experience. But here’s the trick… Only 8% of their customers agree 👀
What do companies get wrong about customer experience? And how CX mindset can help you build better products? Learn in our new article 😉
👉 Click to read
#bookoftheweek
🤹 What is the secret of productive people? Do they exist at all? Or is it just a well-marketed trick?
Being productive doesn’t mean doing more things faster. Productive people value their time and focus only on the things that do matter. Being productive is about developing useful habits 🤫Here are some of them:
📌 Being proactive. It’s your responsibility to respond to a certain situation or stimulus; so never stop challenging yourself.
📌 Beginning with the end in mind. Know exactly what the end result should be. This will help you align your behaviors when achieving it.
📌 Putting first things first. Being productive is about self-discipline and prioritizing. Planning your daily tasks, focus on the most important ones, and not the most urgent ones.
📌 Thinking win-win. Be committed to achieving results that are mutually beneficial and satisfying to you and the other party. That way everyone gets what they want.
In his bestselling book, Sean Covey mentions 3 more habits of highly effective people — ‘Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood’, ‘Synergize’, and ‘Sharpen the Saw’. Dedicate some time to reading this book as it has already helped millions of leaders take advantage of the mindset switch 🎯
#cxdojo_design
No interface can do without menus. There are standard horizontal menus, filter menus, drop-down menus, and so many more. Here’s the variation of a popular hamburger menu 🍔
Although it is compact and minimalistic, its special flavor is in animation. The menu button transforms into a close button. Once you click it, the menu options slide into view and get neatly arranged again 🤩
👉 Check it out on our Dribbble
#cxdojo_services
🤫 What do clients say about CXDojo?
“Along with MVP development, they started working on the brand identity design for my product as there was no brand name, logo, or other elements at the time. I really appreciate how involved they are in the project. They integrate themselves into each process to see all interdependencies and make sure they coordinate efforts effectively.”
— Paul McHale
Read the full review on Clutch 👇
👉 Click to read
#cxdojo_design
It may sound surprising, but as a UI element, login button is one of the trickiest to design. It is often the reason for user churn. To avoid it, the login process should be completed effortlessly and not act as an obstacle users can’t overcome.
Here are common tips for designing a login button:
🔹 The user expects it to be in a familiar place — i.e. in the main header.
🔹 It should stand out from the rest of the elements, enticing the user to click.
🔹 Once clicked, it should respond to actions immediately. If the user has to wait for a while, add a preloader. It informs them that the app is still working but needs some time to load. Animation makes this waiting time more enjoyable and decreases the bounce rate.
👉 Check it out on our Dribbble
#bookoftheweek
📚 Managing people is difficult wherever you work. But in the tech industry, where management is also a technical discipline, the learning curve can be brutal 🤯
No one can become a CTO overnight — it is an iterative process based on the increasing levels of management complexity. As a rule, the tech manager’s career journey looks as follows: mentor → tech lead → engineering manager → engineering director → VP of engineering or CTO 🎉 Each of these roles comes with unique challenges that you need to overcome while striving to become a good manager. And the book provides you with strategies and the CTO’s advice at each of the various levels ☝️
Here’s one such piece of advice. If you have only set out on the tech manager’s path, it’s not enough to have a strong foundation of tech skills. You need to stretch yourself every day. And it’s not simply about learning new tools, it’s about developing strong communication skills, project management skills, and product sense 🤹♀️ You also need to have a strong network of peer managers and mentors so that you can exchange knowledge and learn from each other. It’s very important to interact with those who can push you to succeed 🚀
