Lessons Oshyn Takes from Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs recent passing caused me to reflect on why I'm in this industry and how his life has impacted mine.  I remember the days when I was a 10 year old waiting to get that Apple IIc for Christmas. I knew everything about how to program that little machine. I could write machine code byte-by-byte and crack and write floppy disk copy protection schemes. The reason I became a tech nerd and I’m now Oshyn’s CEO is that Steve taught me (indirectly) the power of software.

It truly makes me sad to know he's no longer here. I collected a handful of memorable Steve quotes from Wired magazine's recent issue on the matter directly applicable to how we try to run our company at Oshyn.  Jobs said, "Focus does not mean saying yes, it means saying no”. It means saying no to things you could be doing even if you can make good money from them. You say no even if these are not part of your core. As Oshyn’s CEO, I can tell you that one of the key things we've learned as we've grown as a company is to say "no". We say no to clients who ask us if we are experts in a non-core area of expertise. Saying no is the reason we are the best in the world at implementing Web Content Management-centric software.

Since Halloween is coming up, I should probably also scare you a little because if you think you have what it takes to implement a decent-scale WCM solution and have little or no experience in this matter, you will be in for some scary surprises. Don’t do this to yourself. Get some help. Hire experts even if you go with a firm other than Oshyn. There’s too much at stake when your company’s image is riding on what you do.

Seeing a guy like Steve and realizing the power perfectionism has and how it can have enormous impact makes me realize that we all need to put that frame of mind into what we do. At the end of the day, we’ll be able to look back with pride and joy and say, “Look – I did that!”