Luke Carbis

Get Crispy
Today I sat in on two corporate functions. I won’t give out names, so let’s call them by their first letter: M and Ü.

Both companies pitched their positioning “Purpose Statement”. The primary goals of a purpose statement are:
- to help align team focus, and
- to guide decision making (especially during hard times)
Here is M’s purpose:

“We power people to live their best lives.”

Here is Ü’s purpose:

“Transportation as reliable as running water, everywhere, for everyone.”

You might have guessed by now who Ü is.

M, on the other hand, is a complete mystery. Their mission could be (and often is) applied to just about any business.

Their purpose statement utterly fails in its goal, because it’s far too broad. With this purpose, I can justify doing almost anything. When hard decisions need to be made, a generic, unspecific purpose statement is vague and useless.

Ü, on the other hand, has deftly navigated troubled waters, because it remains focused on a very specific point on the horizon.

We need our purpose to be crisp and precise. It should be relevant specifically to our business.

Could your company’s purpose be crispier?
May 11, 2017
Find Your Game

Today I had a meeting in the most corporate part of Brisbane city. Tomorrow, I’m in Sydney, meeting in the offices of bankers, architects, and insurers.

As I passed yet another grey suit in the street, a thought crossed my mind:

“These corporate business types are way out of my league.”

But, after some consideration, I realised I was making a false assumption. To extend the sporting analogy: Of course they’re out of my league! They’re not even playing the same game!

This simple realisation allowed me to walk on past the constant stream of jackets and ties with a smile, wishing them the best of success.

My game isn’t law or finance. My game is innovation, emerging tech, and Product.

What’s yours?

May 4, 2017
Tangible and Social

I’ve just spent the last 20 minutes poking through vinyls in a record store.

Despite modern music streaming services like Spotify and iTunes, vinyl record sales are booming, reaching $11.5 billion in 2015. That’s almost double what they made in 2013.

In our ultra-connected, hi-fidelity world, the vinyl trend seems out of place. What’s driving the interest in such an outdated format?

I believe there are two reasons: Vinyl is tactile, and vinyl is social.

There’s something visceral about holding the large square of cardboard, smelling the musky scent of old plastic, feeling the grooves in the wax. This tactile sensation is becoming rarer as the world becomes more digital.

No social media experience can compare to a group of friends choosing a record, and sitting together to hear it. Yesterday I lay on the floor with my son listening to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. We could have done the same with Spotify, but never would have. Vinyl brings people into the same room – another social sensation which is becoming rarer.

What would it look like if we took these two principles (perhaps we could even call them basic needs?) and applied them to our product?

Mailchimp giveaway a toy mascot (Freddie) to their devoted user base. Unique and interesting swag is one way of making your web-app more tangible. How could you literally get your software in the hands of your users?

Gimlet Media host events where people can meet the hosts of their podcasts in person. Conference booths, launch parties, and training days can all bring your users together into the same room. How could you literally bring your product’s community together?

April 27, 2017
Getting Serious

Have you ever played a “Serious Game”? The term refers to a video game which has been designed for a purpose other than entertainment.

Some of the “serious” games I’ve played explore themes like depression, ageing, innovation, empathy, and of course, education. Serious matters.

Serious games have a very clear purpose, and every single element of the game is designed to achieve this purpose. For example, if the goal is for a player to recognise the warning signs of occupational burnout, interactions will revolve around long-hours, anxiety, and sleep. The player is moved along a narrative from Point A to Point B.

We can use this same approach to create a user-flow “narrative” in our Products. What are our “serious” objectives? Who are our players, and where is their Point A and Point B?

April 20, 2017
Dishonesty by Omission

Dishonesty is easy. Dishonesty by omission is even easier.

Sometimes, dishonesty disguises itself as innovation. For example, Google is dishonest about the user data it collects. This crafty monetisation strategy is easy to justify: Free Search, Better AI, etc. But it’s still dishonest, and it leaves a bad taste.

Facebook is another example of deceptive innovation, trading your privacy for profit. They’ve built an amazing product, but at what cost?

Apple understands this principle. Since they don’t compete in the big-data arena, they can uniquely offer their products as more private. They advertise this, knowing that privacy influences buying decisions.

User awareness of these ethically-grey practices is growing. As a result, there now exists a “Free-Pause” – a hesitation while our audience asks what’s in it for you?

There’s no need to throw away big-data innovations, but we must commit to being more transparent with our customers about how we make money.

How can you to set your audience’s cynical minds at ease?

April 13, 2017

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