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The more opportunities that present themselves
the more disciplined and focused you will need to
become. There simply is not enough time or other
resources to pursue several breakthroughs at once.
The temptation to lose focus is very sneaky. It won't
come from laziness, as you might expect. Laziness may
actually be a positive attribute since it discourages you
from picking up new goals. The discipline to focus
comes from resisting the enthusiasm to try new
projects. Yes, this is an exciting time! There are new
legal innovations every day. And that is a big distraction
if you want your firm to implement something new.
Many companies and adoption initiatives fail
because they spread themselves too thin instead of
establishing a beachhead in one group. Crossing into
mass adoption is similar to D-Day: you must muster all
your resources toward a single, clearly-defined target.
It takes courage to say "No" when other options seem
equally attractive. But if you don't take Normandy, you
don't have to worry about how you're going to take
Paris. Drawing on principle #3, you must actually cross
into the mainstream before you can focus on developing
mainstream usage.
The only way to cross this chasm is to make
a product #1 with a certain group. Being #4 in five
markets is deceptive. If you're in a law firm, this the
equivalent of getting a few people in disparate practice
groups to use a product. The mainstream does not
want to try something new if it is #4. A practice group
that is kicking serious ass through a new technolo
is an exponentially more influential story than a few
scattered lawyers who sees a tool's potential – even if
the total number of users is the same. You don't even
have to be #1 by much. Just being a little bit better than
the other options can lead to huge results.
Remember principle #1: the change agent is a
marginal figure. The mainstream wants to hear about
the product from others in the mainstream, from
someone clearly biased toward new things. Even people
who understand that an innovator's primary goal is
to improve the company will regard him or her with
suspicion simply by virtue the discomfort-inducing
nature of new ideas. The only way to get in a position
where people are compelled to try the product is
through word-of-mouth from their peers. And the only
way for people to actually talk about a product is to have
it be the #1 choice for a certain group. And the only time
a product to gets to #1 in a niche is when the backers
"commit to one – and only one – beachhead target."
(emphasis in original)
Principle #5: Own your customer's
success
Recall Principle #1: people do not like to feel "owned" or
told what to do. But they do like to be "owned" if what
that means is a vendor (or change agent) taking ongoing
responsibility for the success of their joint ventures.
Especially with newer products, there is always a gap
between marketing promises made and the ability of the
shipped product to fulfil these promises. Mainstream
users have neither the desire, nor the capacity to cross
this gap alone. Thus, we should not expect or demand
that they do so. Ease-of-use might not be a contract
requirement, but it is a requirement for maintaining a
positive customer relationship.
Mainstream users evaluate and buy "whole
products" – that is, not just the new tech but the
peripheral software, standards, and support that
make this new product an easy transition. It's not even
about the technolo at this point: any endeavour that
competently executes on the whole product strate has
a high probability of mainstream success. A good core
product is a great asset, but it is neither necessary nor
sufficient for breaking into the mainstream.
A whole product consists of the following:
As you can see, many variables influence a
product's success beyond the generic product itself.
We see examples of whole products all the time: from
Amazon creating one-click buying to moving companies
providing free storage. Any single change brings with
it many smaller changes. And the more the product can
handle all of those smaller changes, the easier it will be
for people to adopt it.
