We discussed many things in our weekly "AloneTogether" hangout. Here are some of our favorite resources plus a couple of recommended

We hope you are well during this crazy time. Last week we decided to start a weekly newsletter to share some of the experiences we have had working with our clients through the pandemic.

Quote of the Week

We've been talking a lot about our culture and our experience with companies who's culture is based around constantly managing chaos - to the point that they create chaos in order to function. Edwin Lois Cole has a great quote on this topic which is our quote of the week:

You don't drown by falling in the water; you drown by staying there. - Edwin Lois Cole

Locking Down a Very Clear Strategy

Our client discussions over the past couple of weeks have really focused on locking down a very narrow strategy. As competition increases and prices drop, now is the time to be the absolute best solution for your very well defined niche. It's also a time to review what's working and where capital allocation will produce the greatest return. For most of our clients, it means increasing operational efficiency to serve existing customers better while focusing new customer acquisition solely in that niche where you can have a monopoly.

High Performance Team Work

The Original Skunk Works by Nicolas Means on the Lead Developer YouTube Channel discusses the original skunk works at Lockheed Martin. It's an excellent example of how a high performance team functions.

Maintaining Dignity During the HR Crisis

Some of our closest friends, especially in the restaurant business, are struggling to let great people go. AirBNB is downsizing 25% of their staff, and the Message from Co-Founder and CEO Brian Chesky is a great example of setting expectations, honesty and transparency, and ensuring as much dignity as possible during these times.

#ALONETOGETHER

We've been having weekly #alonetogether google hangouts trading stories, books, shows, and ideas - talking about things other than work. We setup a Slack channel for the same thing, here is what we are talking about. I highly recommend it.

• The entire team is watching the BBC Series Killing Eve
• We are planning a competition with the Teenage Engineering OP-1 digital synthesizer once we can get them to everyone.
• Fender Play App is a cool way to learn guitar and they are giving away the first 3-months free.

Current Projects

We've maintained the good fortune of working on challenge projects with clients we love. Here's a couple of interesting things our team is currently working on.

• Launched a data lake and front-end analytics platform to provide real-time, democratized data analytics across the entire company.
• We are at the tail end of a 2.5 year project building a custom ERP system from the ground up. Currently building out a native payroll system as the last module before launch, and a couple of open-source projects in the process.
• Launching a new brand and marketing strategy for a coaching company.
• Developing serverless functions to enable rapid process automation.
• Creating a strategy to enter a new market for a product company.
• Launching a international medical website with a headless CMS.

I hope you are well and safe, please feel free to send any thoughts or ideas our way.