The Price of Everything

Hire slow, fire fast. This classic advice is powerful and I’ve only violated it to my regret. Far better (for everyone on the team) to wait to bring on someone amazing. Even if that means overwork in the short run.

The opposite is true for tools - especially certain types of technology. Tool overcapacity is good.

The benefits of better equipment (especially cheap software) are much larger than the same money spent on hiring new employees. Your real cost is in meshing the software with your company’s processes.

Having the right tools makes people happy - everyone likes to excel at work. Plus, teams move a lot faster when they are smaller, but more capable.

We’re well into the internet age and it’s now time to extend the truism: Equip Early. Companies (including banks) should have teamwork/communication tools (what Harvard calls Network Information Technology) well before employees need them.

• Email - Everyone’s got email these days, but email needs to be handled carefully.
• Instant Messaging - Google Talk wins over Skype, Yahoo, and AIM. IM is a sharp tool - if people use it casually, interruptions can cut the corporate throat.
• Wiki - I love ‘em. The Economist agrees.
• Issue tracking - Any business can be improved by making it easy to note problems and track them until resolved. We use FogBugz (but this may be less appropriate outside software).
• Source control - Overwriting good information with bad is always a problem, but it’s worse as soon as two people work on a project. A wiki might do the trick for many businesses. However, software development needs something more capable. We use Subversion.

Each of these network systems has resulted in exactly the same head-slapping moment after we got through the initial pain: Why didn’t we do this earlier?

The feared implementation woes were always overblown (because we worked out issues before bringing everyone in). And the benefits came in quicker than expected. Within a few weeks, we were working together at a new level.

Yuniar is currently experimenting with two more network systems for working with customers - CRM and help desk. Our current processes are adequate, but we want something better in place before the need is critical. These systems should be the limit to our network software needs.

The lifeblood of a company has always been talking and teamwork. This goes double at banks. Equip your employees with great tools and watch your capabilities soar.

Hat tip: Bankwatch

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