Who Needs Customers?

It may seem shockingly obvious, but in order to get your software project off the ground, we need a customer. We may have to invent one, but eventually we will need a real one, so we might as well start with a real one. Pick up the phone and find the customer.

Can we name our customer? Will they pay for the solution? Are they motivated to do something different from what they are already doing? This is the key question - what is the motivation to change? Most people are already swamped in new things and new technologies. If we can find the motivation, we may be stopped before we start.

The tired cliche for the failed model is "build it and they will come." But the truth is still buried in that cliche. We need to know who the customer is, and we need to know them by name. We need to understand what moves them to act. It's easy to say but hard to do, and the sooner we get started, the better off we'll be.