Thank you, Mr Brown

During a recent experience as a customer, I was reminded of the value of listening and staying close to those you consider "customers".

Too often, we get caught up in making the widget, following a process or maybe just trying to make everything fit a way we can handle it. But while there's nothing new under the sun, there's something impersonal about making your customers into something to be processed. Some might suggest that in the need to understand demand, control and manage risk, we become too separated from the person we making the widget/product or service for.

Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever made something into a process to be done as efficiently as possible?

I have. Sometimes that's alright. Churning out the same item 25 times, for example. When I get asked for a piece of material at work, I find it tempting to always to re-using some previous piece of work - taking my eye off the uniqueness of this piece of work. I'm all for re-use, but not at the expense of impact. Not at the expense of thinking about the audience you are creating for.

Every moment we can create something new. Every interaction can be something special.