Principles for Digital Systems

Here are some principles for Digital Systems that I’ve found to be effective… 

1. Design with the user in mind. 

Bring the customer and the user into the design process. They’re who is paying you, after all.

2. Understand the existing ecosystem.

Ask yourself: Am I disrupting, creating a new category or product, or improving on something existing?

3. Design for scale and sustainability.

Ensure the technical and business architecture of what you’re building can scale and can ultimately be sustainable for years to come. 

4. Be data driven and use data as a flywheel. 

Today, data is more valuable than cash. Data should be leveraged to power further innovation, explore new revenue streams and cut costs. 

5. Use open standards for innovation. 

Open data, open integrations and innovation will not only enhance team communication and even patent creation but it will 2x your speed to market… make sure they’re working cohesively. 

6. Reuse and improve.

Bundle features into a series of Minimal Viable Product releases, and reuse the things that work and improve the things that don’t. 

7. Address privacy & security.

You can build insanely great stuff and ignore privacy and security, but don’t. It’s as simple as that.

8. Seek out leadership best practices. 

There are common organizational themes across people, processes, and tools in both small and large new digital businesses. Be aware of these themes to reduce risk.