Stories & Strategy

Michael DeHaan is, among other things, the creator of Cobbler and Ansible. Ansible began as a nighttime side-project and grew to automate the computing platforms of an estimated 60%+ of the Fortune 500.

As witnessed early on (2012-2015), success came not only through attention to product strategy & building quality software, but also through a great attention to communication. We communicate well - and build the right things - when we can put ourselves in our audience's shoes and anticipate their perceptions and needs. We learn from each interaction. For Ansible, success required laser-focused messaging, a foolproof onboarding process, providing clean documentation & examples, and using clear explanations to put the technology in context. All of this resulted in more user conversations and that lead to much better products.

The thesis? Highly technical audiences think differently, and the usual marketing and community techniques attempting to reach them need to evolve. Otherwise, great solutions are lost in the noise of thousands of other solutions. My goal is to help your products and services be amazingly successful by applying proven ideas, well-tested by experience - and to help your users be inspired by the possibilities of the technology and services you have created.

Please see some of my suggested offerings below. Does working together sound interesting? Let's talk! Meanwhile, you might like to read the blog!