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Okay, so use my programming ability as a tool that solves business problems. But that seems a little too abstract. What are some "business problems" that I coul

Okay, so use my programming ability as a tool that solves business problems. But that seems a little too abstract. What are some "business problems" that I could solve with RoR? What are some of the ways I could discover them?

swalsh 13y ago
"What are some "business problems" that I could solve with RoR? " That's why you'd make the big bucks. Someone just telling you what to build makes you contractor bucks. Looking at a business problem, and identifying how you can apply your programming skills to save or make your company money makes you rock star bucks
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
patio11 13y ago
What are some "business problems" that I could solve with RoR? Consider a real estate agent. Real estate agents spend most of their time prospecting for leads. Leads convert at X% into sales, where the agent earns 6% of the transaction price. Any system you can deliver for a real estate agent which increases the number of leads they have or the percent which eventually turn into sales solves a problem for them. Consider an insurance company. Insurance companies have prospects and successfully sell some percentage of them policies, which transfer risks from the insured to them. The insured occasionally suffer losses, which results in them filing a claim against the insurance company, which the company will investigate and probably pay. Between the time an insurance company collects payments and pays claims, it has use of the "float" created by money which is probabalistically owed to someone but not paid yet on its books, and it can invest this float profitably. Software can increase the number of prospects they have and/or the percentage of prospects who are successfully convinced to buy policies. Software can assist (or replace) very expensive human underwriters, who judge whether a particular client is worth taking on and, if so, at what price. Software can greatly improve underwriting profits. Software can streamline the costs involved in processing claims. Software can be used to assist companies in paying out less claims that are actually outside of their policy requirements but which had previously been paid due to error or the infeasibility of adjusting them profitably. Software can increase the profits of management of float. Consider a SaaS company. Ignore the product. There's four numbers of interest in that company: visitors per month, new trials per month, average plan price, and churn rate. Software can move those numbers up, up, up, and down, respectively. Working in any industry will tend to expose you to a lot of these opportunities. After you have the mindset, the question is more-or-less as simple as asking an accountant "How would you look at a company and find where money is being spent?" I mean, if he were pressed for time, he might say "By looking", though there's a longer way to phrase that.
- summerlunch 13y ago
  Okay, your accountant example has made it clear that there is really no obvious way of finding business problems by just merely looking from the outside. Now I guess I should figure out how to expose myself to an industry. What is your opinion on the effectiveness of speaking to people and asking them directly about their problems? Or am I better off reading industry magazines/blogs/forums and kind of examining them in their natural habitat?
  - patio11 13y ago
    Okay, your accountant example has made it clear that there is really no obvious way of finding business problems by just merely looking from the outside. I don't think that was the takeaway I was going for. An accountant, told "Tell me where the money goes in a taco truck", would be able to do do a napkin sketch of that in under a minute. "Describe at least one business problem amenable to a software solution that a taco truck has" does not strike me as being terribly difficult. (Actually selling it to them in a scalable fashion? Much more difficult, but that's largely because they're a taco truck.) What is your opinion on the effectiveness of speaking to people and asking them directly about their problems? I find that listen to people is often an effective strategy for learning from them. I feel I have to add the disclaimer "That is my sincere attempt to answer that question" to that sentence. Often, not-software-people do not have a great handle on what software could actually do for them, so asking them "What software do you wish existed?" doesn't work all that well, but asking them for top-of-mind business problems is not that difficult. Or am I better off reading industry magazines/blogs/forums and kind of examining them in their natural habitat? These two activities don't compete with each other. Either or both are more effective than neither. Don't do neither. If you're currently doing neither, start doing either or both.
    - summerlunch 13y ago
      Wow okay, to be honest with you, I could not answer that question about the taco truck. But I will try to understand businesses more better. Thank you so much for your helpful answers. My head is now filled with a million more questions. Do you mind if I email you sometime?

swalsh 13y ago

"What are some "business problems" that I could solve with RoR? " That's why you'd make the big bucks. Someone just telling you what to build makes you contractor bucks. Looking at a business problem, and identifying how you can apply your programming skills to save or make your company money makes you rock star bucks

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

patio11 13y ago

What are some "business problems" that I could solve with RoR? Consider a real estate agent. Real estate agents spend most of their time prospecting for leads. Leads convert at X% into sales, where the agent earns 6% of the transaction price. Any system you can deliver for a real estate agent which increases the number of leads they have or the percent which eventually turn into sales solves a problem for them. Consider an insurance company. Insurance companies have prospects and successfully sell some percentage of them policies, which transfer risks from the insured to them. The insured occasionally suffer losses, which results in them filing a claim against the insurance company, which the company will investigate and probably pay. Between the time an insurance company collects payments and pays claims, it has use of the "float" created by money which is probabalistically owed to someone but not paid yet on its books, and it can invest this float profitably. Software can increase the number of prospects they have and/or the percentage of prospects who are successfully convinced to buy policies. Software can assist (or replace) very expensive human underwriters, who judge whether a particular client is worth taking on and, if so, at what price. Software can greatly improve underwriting profits. Software can streamline the costs involved in processing claims. Software can be used to assist companies in paying out less claims that are actually outside of their policy requirements but which had previously been paid due to error or the infeasibility of adjusting them profitably. Software can increase the profits of management of float. Consider a SaaS company. Ignore the product. There's four numbers of interest in that company: visitors per month, new trials per month, average plan price, and churn rate. Software can move those numbers up, up, up, and down, respectively. Working in any industry will tend to expose you to a lot of these opportunities. After you have the mindset, the question is more-or-less as simple as asking an accountant "How would you look at a company and find where money is being spent?" I mean, if he were pressed for time, he might say "By looking", though there's a longer way to phrase that.

summerlunch 13y ago
Okay, your accountant example has made it clear that there is really no obvious way of finding business problems by just merely looking from the outside. Now I guess I should figure out how to expose myself to an industry. What is your opinion on the effectiveness of speaking to people and asking them directly about their problems? Or am I better off reading industry magazines/blogs/forums and kind of examining them in their natural habitat?
- patio11 13y ago
  Okay, your accountant example has made it clear that there is really no obvious way of finding business problems by just merely looking from the outside. I don't think that was the takeaway I was going for. An accountant, told "Tell me where the money goes in a taco truck", would be able to do do a napkin sketch of that in under a minute. "Describe at least one business problem amenable to a software solution that a taco truck has" does not strike me as being terribly difficult. (Actually selling it to them in a scalable fashion? Much more difficult, but that's largely because they're a taco truck.) What is your opinion on the effectiveness of speaking to people and asking them directly about their problems? I find that listen to people is often an effective strategy for learning from them. I feel I have to add the disclaimer "That is my sincere attempt to answer that question" to that sentence. Often, not-software-people do not have a great handle on what software could actually do for them, so asking them "What software do you wish existed?" doesn't work all that well, but asking them for top-of-mind business problems is not that difficult. Or am I better off reading industry magazines/blogs/forums and kind of examining them in their natural habitat? These two activities don't compete with each other. Either or both are more effective than neither. Don't do neither. If you're currently doing neither, start doing either or both.
  - summerlunch 13y ago
    Wow okay, to be honest with you, I could not answer that question about the taco truck. But I will try to understand businesses more better. Thank you so much for your helpful answers. My head is now filled with a million more questions. Do you mind if I email you sometime?