No one skill to rule them all

There are few, if any, consumer products built on only one skill-set. Why should we have a product blog only talking about one of them?

While programming can sometimes feel like a superpower allowing one to create something out of nothing, it’s not enough solely on it’s own to create great consumer experiences. In the same way, when a revolutionary vision is transformed into a beautiful design or tangible prototype it’s still far from a great product. It’s the combination of these and other skills that yields the greatest products. It’s also through this process that these skills can empower each other and amplify their individual contributions.

When we started building Tictail, our goal was to create the easiest way for anyone to start an online store. We started out as two designers and two developers. This was not the most usual balance of skills in a founding team and made it difficult to answer what kind of company we were. Most companies did and perhaps still do, portrait themselves as a company of either one or the other skill. Often it’s either a tech company that have designers because “programmers can’t design” or it’s a design-driven company with programmers because someone has to build it. There’s probably a similar discussion to be had about analysts, marketers or sales people etc. Regardless of which they are each considered different sides of a die and you can only choose one to be as a company.

I find it both amusing and sad when people are in awe when a designer programs, or a programmer designs. There seems to be an invisible wall between skill-sets and the ones who have managed to climb that wall and interacted with the other side are seen as a rare breed. We did not want to be a company with invisible walls.

We wanted to be a company where the combination of skills, both in one individual and between several, was celebrated.

We have huge technical challenges behind and ahead of us, but we are not a tech company. We put a lot of emphasis and spend tons of time on user experience, illustrations and design, but we are not a design company. We split test every update and measure improvements, but we are not a data company.

So if we are not any of those, what are we? We are a product company. None of those skills are relevant if they do not support the experience, usability or growth of the product.

We hold all skills in our organisation in the highest regard, but we don’t believe in one without the other. While we are thrilled by people who possess several skill-sets, cross talent is primarily about the ability of understanding and collaborating with others. This does not mean that we don’t promote specialization. It just means that people in our organisation, no matter function, should understand and embrace collaboration across competencies. There are no unicorns.

Since a great deal of our learnings, no matter competency, have come from fantastic communities, articles or blogs we have long wanted to contribute back with our learnings. However every time we have talked about it, it has ended up in a conversation of what direction such a collection would take. Is it a tech/design/growth/marketing blog? Eventually it was clear, it’s neither and it’s all. With our cultural background emphasizing cross functional teams, all evolving around the product, what better than a collection of blog posts about all involved aspects?

Today I’m happy to announce Tictail Makers, a collection of blog posts written by us and friends detailing the experience, challenges and learnings seen from each perspective of the product development process.