[Now is the time! note#155] Understanding and refining your product value in the smallest units

How are you doing? This is Hayashi.

In a recent broadcast by Hitoshi Kinoshita, he discussed the idea of viewing oneself through the lens of a lean startup. He suggested that even in our workplace roles, we should identify our own product value (our points of differentiation) to achieve results different from others, and then work on refining those.

This perspective is certainly important. The performance required for my job as a systems engineer in large-scale systems lies in adhering to so-called QCD (Quality, Cost, and Delivery of services), identifying project risks in advance, and managing them effectively to keep the project moving forward.

Furthermore, in my area of expertise as an application engineer, my mission is to have a concrete vision of how to design and implement systems that support our clients' business reforms, and to be able to share that vision with the development team. I am also responsible for managing the development process to maintain quality and for planning and executing test plans that are mindful of how the client will use the system.

Moreover, from a management standpoint, my job is not just to ensure that the major problems right in front of us are completed without incident so that the client can use the system with peace of mind, but also to develop talent through the project and to organize the necessary processes and know-how for the company's future business operations.

Now, what is important is that for someone in my current position, these tasks would likely be part of the mission regardless of who is doing them, but the perspective is: 'What is better about me doing this compared to someone else in the same position?' In other words, I am the product or service, and the company is the party with whom I have a sales contract for my product, so
for the company, what value can they enjoy by signing an employment contract with me that they cannot get from other products (other people)? This perspective is extremely important.

With that in mind, rather than the broad value of 'providing labor,' I would like to proceed with the discussion from the perspective of understanding my product's differentiating factors and value in the smallest units, and how to refine them.

Systematizing chaotic phenomena

The first ability I consider a selling point of my own product is the 'ability to systematize chaotic phenomena'.

Because I am slow-witted, I lack the ability to understand complex things while they remain complex. Therefore, there are many things I cannot understand unless I write them down on paper, conceptualize and systematize them, and redefine them in my own words.
I admire people who can understand complex things as they are, but since I know that not everyone is like that, I believe that the ability to systematize complex things is surprisingly in demand everywhere.

For people to understand things, it should be easier to progress from the whole to the details, and even when an explanation is needed in a short time for someone who is not very familiar with a certain area, using systematized information increases the speed of understanding and can shorten the time required for decision-making.

Specifically, if the job's purpose is to explain a service to a client and gain their understanding, creating materials that are easy to understand from the client's perspective makes a huge difference in results: being able to have them understand the content in 5 minutes and clarify what we need to confirm, versus spending an hour without the true meaning being conveyed and failing to reach the points we need to confirm.

The process of escalating internally to gain approval from decision-makers is the same. To have them understand current initiatives in a short time with a single concise explanation and get agreement on the points where approval is needed, the ability to systematize chaotic matters and convey them concisely to third parties becomes indispensable.

Fortunately, through my work in Southeast Asia, I have spent nearly 10 years advancing projects by explaining things in my own words and gaining understanding from clients who are also non-native speakers, using not only English but also drawings and other tools.
Also, having had countless opportunities to give presentations at seminars for international audiences, lectures at universities, and being on the front lines of product explanations in English for new clients, I have been able to refine my 'ability to systematize things' through experience.

Therefore, I would like to do even more of this 'work of systematizing and making things easy to understand' in fiscal year 2024.
I am referring to increasing the proportion of stock work—creating things I deem necessary proactively—rather than just flow work where I respond to requests from others.To turn the knowledge of the current organization into explicit knowledge and connect it to the future, I want to use my time for 'systematizing current operational knowledge' and 'systematizing the specifications of the products we use,' thereby providing the unique value of me as a product.

Information dissemination

As an extension of the first point about systematizing know-how, I would like to make the understanding of operational knowledge and product specifications that I have systematized through stock work visible within the company so that anyone can refer to it.
I also recognize that I am quite good at activities like sharing our initiatives and finding like-minded colleagues. So far, I have had content from my university lectures packaged and introduced on the university's website, presented the content and rewards of global work at internal kick-offs, had regional revitalization efforts published in internal articles, and arranged opportunities for junior staff to share the progress of website construction and collaborations with design firms that I worked on with team members.

I believe this is an area that other people in my position might not put much effort into, but I see it as a way of working that allows me to differentiate myself as a product.
By systematizing our work and making it visible, we can utilize that know-how, which not only leads to raising the level of operational knowledge among current team members but also makes it possible to turn it into an asset for future colleagues. I also believe that letting many people know about our work indirectly leads to a sense of fulfillment for the members currently involved.

The point is 'how to make it easy to understand.' Even with information dissemination, if it remains complex, the 'quality of clarity' will be completely different even if you create something similar. Create something easy to understand, let people in neighboring departments know about it, and expand awareness through that chain reaction. I will be putting extra effort into this in the current fiscal year as well.

Team building

Finally, there is team building. This is also an area where I am confident I can engage in it more interestingly and enjoyably than others.
The biggest challenge is improving the sense of unity, including with business partners. Since there are many excellent colleagues with high expertise, I will work on strengthening communication to maximize team results with those colleagues. It is important to show respect through both attitude and words.

And, time-saving within the team is still ongoing.

In connection with the information dissemination mentioned in the second point, whether I succeed or fail, I want to actively share the lessons from my "Team Time-Saving Struggle Diary" within the company and contribute to creating an organizational culture that seeks higher productivity. Since management experience in a team that has achieved productivity improvements is surely in demand everywhere in this day and age, I will take this on positively as part of building a track record to polish myself as a product.

Well then, have a great day today as well.
It encourages me, so please be sure to like and follow!