Winning in tech requires a commitment to craftsmanship

Most people in business and the tech world are very familiar with the phrase, “better, faster, cheaper.” It represents a trifecta of competitive advantages common to leading organizations in almost any sector. And it’s true – we all need to innovate at the speed of Google, Apple and Amazon, or risk our relevance in the marketplace, and we certainly cannot spend our resources recklessly. That said, I think this maxim has been misinterpreted by some in both business and technology. Too often, the fears of irrelevance and of arbitrary deadlines are used as an excuse to cut a corner, skip a step, and release a product that’s not been molded with precision. Craftsmanship is being proud of what you do. And making sure the quality of our efforts and outcomes matches our mission and the level of care and concern we provide to our clients.

I believe this is the time for craftsmen and craftswomen to rise to greater prominence. These artisans are the ones who will win the future. They deliver on the promise and the true meaning of “better, faster, cheaper” while also prioritizing quality, integrity, suitability and durability – key characteristics consumers crave.

Craftsmen use the right tools

One of the first things I discovered from the master makers in my life is how crucial it is to use the correct tools for the job. In woodworking, for example, sharpened tools make the best cuts. On the other hand, skimping on resources tends to result in lower quality outcomes at the end.

The same is true in all aspects of life: you get what you give, and what you earn depends heavily on what you invest. At Northwestern Mutual, our commitment to high-quality craftsmanship begins with our talent acquisition efforts. We look for best-in-class, not best-in-cost – but we don’t hire for skillset alone. Craftsmen and craftswomen in tech take a much different approach to the world than others. They don’t feel like they already know everything – instead, they’re fascinated by the world and they’re authentically excited about pursuing lifelong learning. We prioritize both skill and will: attracting exceptional talent who are committed to continuous development and growth into first-class subject matter experts.

While a true craftsman never blames his tools, they do spend a lot of time and effort procuring the right tools for the job.?This is why there has been such an investment in the tooling that makes our engineers productive.?From basics like GitLab source repository/CICD engine to modern cloud-based machine learning tools, we’re investing heavily to ensure a powerful developer experience.?Over the last few years, our cloud toolchain, in particular, has exploded.?It’s now easy for developers to spin-up new services quickly so they can experiment and innovate without friction.?In the end, leaders must realize that the developer experience is critical both for attracting craftsman talent and ensure that everyone is growing professionally.

Craftsmen get the job done right the first time

Craftsmanship typically gets portrayed as slow, time-consuming work. In fact, in my experience, the opposite is often true. In woodworking, for example, most builders “dry fit” the pieces together before they use fasteners or glue to ensure that the pieces were cut precisely. They progressively test – and if things are off by just a little, they’re agile, they make modifications and continue their work until the components are just right. These steps actually help save time by preventing mistakes and rework. To me, craftsmanship means you do things with a level of quality that you would want for yourself and your family and those you care about. It’s a very different approach than doing things as hastily or as cheaply as possible.

Perhaps the greatest masters of any craft are the Navy SEALs. Their mantra is not “cheaper, faster, better.” Instead, SEALs train with the philosophy: “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.” They train and train until the process becomes so familiar, it’s flawless muscle memory. Following a craftsman approach does take more time on the front end, but it tends to accelerate the end stages – and in my experience, the end product looks better, lasts longer and perhaps most importantly, people believe in it.?

Recently, we completed a digital project entitled Smart Notes. Our business challenge was to create a tool that would enhance the quality and suitability of our advisors’ case notes, providing a better experience for our clients, their advisors and our compliance team partners. Early on, we came up with a hypothesis for a solution and created a micro experiment to test it with one office. After several iterations, we created a script that would elicit better, more compliant case notes. We then broadened the scope of our experiment to a wider number of offices, tested, learned and refined our strategy even more. Only when we felt confident in our approach did we decide to begin full-scale development and deployment. Even then, we continued to iterate, test and learn. At the end of the 15-month process, we saw wide-scale adoption of the tool as well as impressive, sustainable results that are still contributing to our organization’s bottom line. What’s clear to me is this: if we had rolled out a solution to everyone after creating a hypothesis or after our first pilot, it’s likely we would have spent much more time apologizing to end users, explaining our mistakes to senior leaders and conducting rework to remedy the situation.

Craftsmen know what success looks like

Not everything requires the highest level of artistry and polish. For example, you don’t need a Ferrari to go to the grocery store (though I’m sure it could be fun). Some things really are undifferentiated. And in fact, sometimes, craftsmanship means delivering less. When I was at a previous employer, the organization was seeking to bring a new suite of digital features to market. After doing due diligence, I told my business partner that my team could deliver 80% of the request and it would only take 20% of the time – or we could take the time to develop the full project. For my partner, getting 80% of the experience to consumers as fast as possible was the win. To them, that was craftsmanship. Getting everything they wanted wasn’t as important as getting the most critical improvements out to market quickly. As leaders in technology, our goal is to match the business need to the technology need. Sometimes, getting it right means durability over time. Sometimes getting it right means adaptability and being responsive and doing it fast. We need to recognize the difference and understand that many times, they are not mutually exclusive.

Many leaders say they want to build a company that lasts forever. At Northwestern Mutual, after 164 years of existence, I can say truthfully that we really mean it. We believe in something called a multi-generational compact. It means that we are here not just for our customers today, but also the customers we’ll have in the future. We act to ensure that our company and our clients will thrive indefinitely. That long-term view has a genuine impact on the way we create tech solutions for our stakeholders. We don’t want to be the biggest company. We want to be the best. We want our products to be the best. We want our digital experiences to be the best. And I think that speaks volumes about why we do what we do. While “better, faster, cheaper” can drive success over the short-term, I’m convinced that our craftsman mentality is why we’ve seen such sustained success over the last 164 years. And I know that it will be a key component of our future growth in the next 164 years.?