Teams create colorful spaces around us. They let us grow as a community. While products, without focusing on people, create a false sense of achievement.
Initially, rewind my life 6 months, I thought product matters. 3 months ago, I thought iterations matter. Today, I feel the user holding the product matters. In fact, the most important factor in creating a new product is the person who is going to use your product.
Focusing on people, raises communities, where people can sit, talk and feel comfortable. You can later, put your product in their hands and gather honest feedback to further polish it for the world. Once polished, launch it.
Let us specifically discuss how we can create the space where people can sit, team up and grow
- Befriend a Stranger
- Try to be the valuable part of his life
- Make a product for your newly made friend that doesn’t disappoint him
1 — Befriend a Stranger
Strangers are your best bet. No prior perception. No expectations. No hopes linked with you. You are one full human, pure, to a stranger even with all your flaws. In front of a stranger you can become whoever you want to become.
The stranger can be a person you find interesting on twitter. It can be somebody you find like you, in your neighborhood or on the road. A stranger, can be your servant. It can be your boss. It can be any human, who doesn’t know you fully well.
Act selfish and cherry pick One person who clicks you. Try to befriend him. If you fail, no worries, you can select the next stranger. We are not short of strangers in this world. And after you find the right stranger, make him your friend. We will discuss later how to make him a good friend.
2 — Build a product for your stranger friend
You do not need heads, claps, chores or drum beats to validate your product. You do not need even 10 people to let you know if you are going right or wrong. You need only 1 person, close to you, to let you know your instincts are right, wrong or stupid. The new friend you made, doesn’t know your flaws yet, he will be giving you the correct feedback.
Become valuable to him. He should feel comfortable talking to you. He should be clapping for you, to encourage you. He should be showing up at places, you need him, to lift you up. He should be your goto place in low times of your life. He, the new stranger friend, you made after reading this article, should be closest to your heart.
I know people say, family comes first. They also tell you, neighbours come first. Mother, your child or your servant comes first. To be honest, people tell you wrong things. It is not how you grow teams that create cosy spaces.
Your friends, who think like you, act like you, talk like you, come first. Because, your own resume, a good portfolio or a great product will help you more than your neighbour. So, build a team, that helps you create amazing spaces. The good neighbor, loving family or caring boss are a by product of your block buster successes.
3 — Make something that does not disappoint your friends
You do not create a product, until you do not find a friend. Until you do not make a team. Until you do not gather your like minded people.
Stop, if you are creating something. Stop making it. Focus on finding the friend. Focus on helping him out one way or another. Focus on creating a positive space.
The product will be a by product of your will to bring people closer. It will be a good product. Like Apple, like whereby, like unsplash; your product will be to the point, easy to use and helpful. It will not be google, neither twitter nor facebook. It will be a good place to sit, talk and laugh.
Conclusion
If you ask me, did I create a team yet. Yep, I found Sadaf, I found Aashir, Ali Imran, Huzaim, Hashim and Jabran.
I found people, who are not egoistic, who do not care if they talk good or bad, who do not give foul talks and who do not humiliate a human being.
None of these are my wife, my mother, or my neighbour. These are the people, who have displayed the longest patience in all people I have met in my life.
I am not saying others are not close to me. They are people, upon whom I will not be giving up. I will try to bring ego out of them and make them clap on my presentation.
But until then, my product is going to help only these 6 people, who are the front face of our team.
