In this episode, Asim Razzaq focuses on the importance of customer-centric software engineering. In many organizations, engineers code to the features and specs they’ve been asked to develop without questioning whether their work is truly solving problems for customers. The result is, often, software wastage or “bloated” products with features that never get used.
[01:03] Wasted Software Features
[01:25] Envisioning Success for Customers
[02:23] Misplaced Customer-Centric Service
[07:20] Ways to Be Part of the Conversation
[12:42] Summary
Show Notes:
Always Ask: What’s the Use Case?
A fundamental for software engineers is the need to have a customer-centric mindset. Many times, engineers fall into the trap of following only the directives coming from the product or internal teams. In a crowded marketplace, a lot of solutions are built in order to keep up with what competitors are doing. But what problem does the customer need to solve? What is the use case? Software usage, customer satisfaction, and even product reviews can be hit-or-miss if you don’t deliver real value for users.
Concrete Ways to Boost Your Customer IQ
Just like any other healthy working environment, having open dialogues can lead to great success and development stories. For software engineers, it is advised to always have an open mind and discussion with the internal teams on what they can contribute from a professional’s point-of-view. The thought process of knowing what the customer wants can trigger engineers to give plenty of recommendations on how their services can be more efficient. This would also allow them to build a meaningful and more established working environment with different stakeholders while keeping the customer satisfied on a steady to upward scale.
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