How Today’s Tools Build Tomorrow’s Teams

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

- Aristotle

When I first signed up for Facebook in 2007, I thought “what the heck is this?!” Facebook had just rolled out to Ohio State and a few of my friends told me I had to get it. At the time, there were only a few people I knew on the platform, so I didn’t see the point in it. But, over the next few months, everyone I knew gradually created a Facebook account. Before I knew it, everyone was liking each other’s updates, posting photos, and my mom was asking how my day was on my page. This video from 2005 is a great representation of the madness that was TheFacebook.com:

Why had this thing taken over the country?!?!

It’s simple: synergy.

When Aristotle stated that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” he was completely right. The most prominent form of synergy in the 21st century is the idea of the “network effect”: the more users the more valuable a network is.

When the internet was first introduced in the 1960s as a military tool, it had little value to anyone outside of the government and a few researchers. But, when a new communication protocol (TCP/IP) was introduced, computers were all connected to each other by a universal language. Facebook was bringing together thousands of college students using the internet.

The value of the network effect is uncovered in Metcalfe’s Law which states that the value of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of the system (n^2).

More users = more value

From this progression, we saw companies like eBay and Amazon create platforms that connect buyers to sellers. Google connects researchers and information to people like me asking “why isn’t my TV turning on?” Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter are ruining teens lives (and are only successful with millions of users); and Uber and Lyft connects drivers with people who need a ride.

There’s where the true beauty of the network comes into play; an app like Uber can solve real, complex problems every day by simply connecting people — and you don’t need to be a genius to use Uber. Uber created a team of regular people who bring value to each other’s lives every day through an app that was hard to build, but extremely easy to use. Anyone can be a driver or rider.

At AMEND, we see this every day with companies who want to use data systems, but have a lot of concerns. We hear things like:

“We don’t have a team that can understand this stuff!”

“We already have a full-time IT staff and still have problems.”

“We just need the answer, not anything else.”

In the same way that anyone can be an Uber driver or rider, anyone can come together to bring value out of the data their systems are gathering. Time and time again, we have found that the number of “smart” people you have isn’t what really matters, it’s how you use the smart people you already have.

This formula sums it up perfectly: Setup + Design > Expertise

The problem is not the people necessarily, it’s all about the way the machines are being used. One of our clients has a very limited IT and analytics personnel but still needed to be able to use the data they were gathering. Our goal was to build a system that required as few touches as possible.

We architected the data entry system to work seamlessly with each other in an automated, repeatable fashion while also integrating that data with sensor-level information being pulled every 30 seconds from the machines.

Once built, the level of human interaction is 0.

We created mobile and dashboard reporting systems that are 100% automated and have calculations built into the system upfront. Now, 20–30 people use it everyday and don’t have to build out anything. They simply get the information.

The way we built and organized the system allowed the team to use the data.

You don’t need to have PhDs to get value out of your systems. It’s all about how the TEAM is set up to come together and be greater than if everyone was working on their own. It’s all about SYNERGY!

Questions? Email me or reach out on LinkedIn!

AMEND Consulting is a leading mid-market management consulting firm dedicated to building unbeatable businesses by creating endless competitive advantages. Double, triple, even quadruple-digit improvements are always realized — typically in 6 months or less. (See our impact here.)