Announcement of the Cargo Cult seminar in Moscow: Marketing strikes back

What: Seminar "Cargo Cult" (open, by prior registration )
Where: Moscow, Kutuzov Avenue, 32
When: August 20, 2018, from 14:00
Why: Understand what to do if your regular tools don't work anymore

Disclaimer : if you are a developer, admin, tester or engineer of any kind, you most likely will not be very interested in reading this post. However, if you have a team of marketers / HR in your team whom you love and for whom you want growth and development, share this post with them.



Now to the point. And the thing is this: very often, when I look at my colleagues, I notice that they are not asking themselves one important question. This question is “Why?” But it would be good to ask yourself such a question, and here's why.

Look around - life around is boiling and does not allow to stop and exhale calmly. If you log into your Task Manager, you will most likely see there more tasks than you can do in the right amount of time. And we learn to work fast . This is a very useful skill that allows you to close a couple of large and a whole bunch of small tasks every day. Does it work well with this? Probably yes. More precisely, it turns out to perform tasks well. Many tasks, even more! Great.
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And here we stand at the point at which quantity should translate into quality , but this often does not occur. To find out what is wrong, it is worth digging deeper ...

... and understand that a qualitative change occurs at another moment: when you begin to clearly understand why you are doing something.

Metrics and reality

23derevo and I have been discussing a puzzle that has been systematically promoted for 4 months. Poorly? Not that word! We in the JUG.ru Group generally try to work according to the metrics set on the basis of goals, because it is this approach that allows us to understand such things as “where we are now,” “where do we go” and “why am I not doing shit”. And here there was a problem on maintaining the table with metrics.

It was possible to automate the whole thing, finish and forget, occasionally looking for the results, but it is more useful to do this with pens, since in case of detecting bursts you can quickly connect and not lose them.

We sat down to understand and found out that the guy responsible for this work simply did not consider this task really necessary. And here we see two sides of the medal: you really don’t need to do unnecessary work, but it’s just as bad not to do anything at all if you don’t have the answer to the question “why”. So, the question “why do we need this task” allowed us to do everything in such a way that it became clear to the person responsible what was wanted of him, and the customer to get what he needed. We simply began to revise the system of those metrics so as to build a more realistic picture of the world.

Yes, we spent time on revision. Yes, lost a couple of months on the way to understanding the problem. But what would have happened if nobody had asked the question “why are we doing this”? We would continue to collect unnecessary or incomplete data and a couple of years, clutching his head, would reproach ourselves for stupidity.

And then a typical way to nowhere: incorrect metrics, wrong conclusions, wrong AI, crash, decay, pain, death.

On August 20 at Cargo Cult I will try to talk about how much marketing tasks can change depending on the questions that we ask, starting to perform them.



And now think, do you have tasks that you do “just because you need to”?

What does it have to do with HR / PR and marketing in general?

That’s what: did you notice that from time to time “fashionable” trends appear in the industry? Once, and in a certain year, all around you give birth to groups / publics in social networks; two, and in each position there is a mention of cookies in the office; three, and on the number of meetings held by the companies, begins to ruffle in the eyes.

Let's go back a couple of paragraphs above and remember that most companies are in a hurry. Looking for ready-made proven solutions. And when such a decision is found, the "hurried ones" do not ask the question "why." Looking at successful meetings / social networks / research colleagues, you always want to just take and make "your own, with preference and ladies", and it is much easier to just start, untie the metric from the global goal and enjoy the results. At the same time, a lot of the work done is not a bit closer to what you really need. This is a classic example of a destructive cargo cult (there was a comment in my previous post about useful manifestations of a cult).

Let's take an example: I am often asked why the JUG.ru Group does not have instagram accounts. I answer the question with a question: “Why?” The answer usually sounds like: “Well, in the same place, your target audience is sitting anyway.”

And now - watch your hands - the question “why” does not disappear anywhere! “ Why does our audience sit there?” According to statistics, people come to us for the sake of expanding their IT outlook, searching for new tools, communicating with old friends, and for the sake of meeting with famous people. Which of these goals corresponds to viewing the Instagram tape? That's right, no. So why distract people?

But the main problem of such a “fashionable” approach is not that a company spends resources with minimal efficiency, but that every good idea that works for one or two companies, implemented by all, ultimately erodes and stops benefiting even pioneers. Because "the next mitap", "the next public", "the next blog on Habré" devalues ​​the value of each previous one. Cookies in the office is no longer an advantage, but a given.

In the end, it would seem, the right actions sink in the ocean of mediocrity. Is it sad Sure. Read more about how this happens, tell Alex 23derevo Fedorov.

What to do?

To answer this question, I will return to my previous post about the Cargo Cult seminar . Try to introduce for yourself the rule to periodically ask yourself two questions:

• What am I doing?
• Why am I doing this?

The most dangerous trap here is that if you are in a hurry to answer the question "Why?", You will definitely find a quick answer. And he, most likely, will be not absolutely true. Consciousness likes to choose ready-made solutions, even if later they have to suffer for them (spend more time, for example).

It will look something like this:
- Why am I looking for another reporter at the mitap?
- Well, it’s time to plan a mitap.
- What for?
- At the last rally they decided that it was necessary!
- So why?
- To ... (write in your answer)

Stop and think. You are more likely to understand how to solve the problem in another way. Are you sure that the proposed solution is the only correct one? If not, sure that it is the best? This exercise will require 10 minutes of time from you, but it will bring a little peace of mind to your consciousness and awareness to your work.

Openness as a point for positioning

Here is another example, now positive. A typical approach in Russian business is total concealment of financial information from employees and everyone in general. Ask the question why it is needed, you will receive an answer in the style of “But how else? Find out, scatter / quarrel. " At this point, it is important to understand that this answer to the question “Why?” Is dictated not by the interlocutor’s internal confidence (or yourself, if you ask this question to yourself), but by some established system, it is a socially acceptable answer that allows you to not think about why something is done so and not otherwise.

So, Mikhail Samarin from Futurice (Finland) will talk about how absolute information and financial transparency in the company has become not only the answer to the question “why hide financial information”, but also the point of detuning from competitors in the labor market. In short, at Futurice, any employee can find company revenues and other people (if I remember correctly), even to see how much he earns for the company. And now the company, talking about its approach, attracts those for whom the confidence of the business is a key factor. Moreover, these people, coming to the company with a truly unusual and important feature for them, will not be able to go anywhere. Just because full corporate financial transparency is a unique feature, unlike conditional cookies or an Xbox in the office.



And in this example, it's time to put a timer for 10 minutes and think: are your “buns” unique? Interesting? Your activity in the work on the fame of the company as an employer - is this something unusual? And even if you answered the first questions positively, ask the following question: do these activities attract to you exactly the people you need ? Are you sure that "cookies and Xbox in the office" are necessary for the people you want to take to the team? The answer, I hope, will help you understand if you are moving in the right direction.

HR funnel

Well, the latest example for today. Since we are talking about marketing, one can not forget about, sorry, the funnel of "sales".

Everyone probably saw this. And I even saw a few HRs who talked about the funnel of "candidates" and "applicants" with conversion into "offers." In general, it is possible and sometimes necessary to use a funnel. It is important to understand that the funnel works well on large volumes with a clear step-like structure of the process and the most consolidated process of transition between stages. Ideal for selling inexpensive Chinese watches or the “Business Youth” course: covered with advertisements, drove to the site, drove out according to “Why do you need to buy”, displayed a form, worked out the “Buy” button. Here on such a scheme a funnel is an indispensable thing.

I, of course, not HR, but to me the process of finding and hiring a new person always seemed less trivial. Well, that is, the interviews take place differently, the applicants are different, the conclusions and the number of meetings vary. In addition, usually your relationship with a colleague does not end at the time of the signing of the employment contract (or rather, just begin). In such conditions it is better to use a more flexible tool: Employee Journey Map . There I wrote a couple of paragraphs above about the fact that you should not give up everything and run to use new incomprehensible tools in practice, and here I also do not recommend doing so.

Sergey Khudovekov from Paper Planes will tell about this story on the Cargo Cult - he ate the dog in this matter, so he could be asked any questions if there were some misunderstandings after the report. By the way, when we do not hire an employee, but the employee “hires” us as employers, Sergey recommends using an EJM built on the basis of JTBD ( everything broke, it's time to sleep ). The story is exactly about the IT-industry, and how it is done - look at the seminar at the Cult of Cargo (August 20, Moscow).



In addition to the above speakers , a couple more people will speak at the Cargo Cult , now we are all overwhelmed. All this is free, but you need to register. Register here .