“Fall in love with the problem. Not the solution” – Uri Levine. In other words, assume you are wrong about everything and every assumption you make must be validated including the problem you think you are trying to solve. Colleagues often have different opinions about what the actual problem is so starting a new business based on a perceived problem can be risky. I’ve tried.
Step 2 Define
While researching global last mile challenges and preparing for my interviews I found some good explanations as to why the last mile is so inefficient and expensive. Access controlled properties aside other challenges include congestion, finding parking, increasing touchpoints, address accuracy, pollution etc.
Researching last mile delivery costs online I found varying opinions. Last mile costs ranging from 20 to 60% of the total delivery cost, but most agree that low average parcel delivery size per stop is the real last mile problem.
Unfortunately waiting until a receiver has 2 or 3 parcels to deliver at their address is not an option in an industry competing on speed and consumers that expect faster and faster delivery times.
From wasting time at access-controlled properties to how do we increase average delivery sizes?
Defining your ecosystem is just as important as defining your problems and is something that if made visual can lead to new insights on who is involved and when.
An example ecosystem of a security gatehouse at a residential estate is as follows:
Security company, security guard, uniforms, cameras, camera installers, on – and offsite CCTV monitoring, AI, computers, minicomputers, access control hardware, access control software, gates/booms, gate installers, gate maintenance, security vehicles etc.
The list goes on, and the relationship that each item has to other products and services. For example, who supplies the minicomputers, what operating system do they use etc.
The first year in Zanzibar was a litany of frustrating meetings with government agencies, accountants, lawyers etc. All to get through the red tape of investment incentives, the relationship between Tanzania and Zanzibar, congested port politics and finally the double VAT structure when procuring from the mainland, which was something we were not aware of.
Aiming to avoid semantics about “consciousness” I Googled and got “aware of and responding to one’s surroundings”. Preparing some good questions for an interview goes a long way to not make people feel you are wasting their time and sets the table for insightful feedback. To put yourself in the other person’s shoes leaving all ideas at the door to learn something new about a potential customer, partner or advisor who knows? Once in the room or on the call, it can be quite stressful and some of us (like me) tend to ramble to make it less awkward. Don’t.
I like to think having a higher conscience is the ability to look inward at your own emotions and take responsibility for that little bit of stress or frustration you are bringing to the interaction. Being aware of your emotions and where they come can be a great guide to remain calm. Be the beginner.
By the end of my interviews, I had a lot more info than I expected because people eventually shared when they realised, I wasn’t selling something. I was aiming at getting in-depth insight from the whole ecosystem.
I focused on interview questions like: are you experiencing challenges with courier drivers, if so, what are they? How much time do you allocate to estate deliveries on your route? How often do you crowdsource additional drivers due to estate challenges? Do you use any technology that helps speed things up or any other methods?
About 90% of estates that I spoke to complained that courier drivers often go to addresses of residents that security couldn’t get hold of to confirm availability. They also don’t want to store parcels at the gatehouse because they cannot be responsible for damages or theft. Residents in turn complain because they weren’t available to receive a delivery. More and more problems came up, from wasted resources to, average delivery sizes to, speeding and monitoring drivers in estates.
It was getting complicated and when asking questions about the security of course some would react defensively causing some discomfort and frustration.