Somewhere near the very beginning, at the very start of each project, before anything really begins - before designs, before workflows, before the Long Discovery I've mentioned in a previous article - I talk about Magic.

Specifically, the "Magic App".

Actually, not just "App". System. Dashboard. Tool. So for today, let's call it The Magic Tool.

It goes like this.

The Ask

It usually starts with the client (or prospective one) wanting to explore us "doing their App". Or creating a system - like the aftersales system, the leads management system, or more recently, the queue system. They might start with saying "we need an app/system/something to solve this because of some pain or other."

So I will sit down with them - usually the main project team first. Then each individual stakeholder team. I will say this:

"Imagine if, right now, magically, that App or system is done. Ready. Magic. I waved my hand and ta-daa… it's done. Right there. A completely magic tool that is completely brought into existence for the purpose here and now. Design, done. Everything. No Phase 1, Phase 2, future enhancements. Everything is done, right there in your hands, ready to use."

"What would it look like?"

"What do you see, the moment you open it? What can you immediately get from it? What can you do?"

"No, don't talk about how it works, where the data flows from or technicalities. We are talking about magic, right here. Magic ignores physics, time and constraints. Magic has brought this Tool to life, exactly as what you wanted. What can you do now, with that Tool, that you cannot do before? What do you see? What does it give you?"

"Don't talk about how it can connect to AI or how it will resolve things. Just imagine that somehow, magically, in itself, complete - whether by AI or magic or whatsoever - it does what you want."

"This is step one. Because the Magic App will tell you what you really want. How you really want it. How you wish whatever it is worked for you. How you can do things with it or get things from it that you can't, right now. Or how it will do something completely differently from how things look right now. Only after we've seen the full shape of The Magic Tool… then we can work from there, how to get there."

Why We Can't Imagine It

Think about it. Because oftentimes, when the RFQ comes out and people start talking about getting a new system or "having an app", we don't exactly have an idea what it might do. Just a vague "it should resolve this situation", or that a vague "app-shaped" or "system-shaped" thing belongs here. Or we might know that whatever we have right now isn't what the shape is supposed to be, but have not even creatively imagined a situation where that existing tool isn't there and replaced by something brilliantly sufficient in every way.

And also - too many of us have been conditioned to work completely within the limitations so many systems have been imposing on us. We want to do so many things - and in fact in this day and age of elegant ERPs, AI and visionary-like sales pitches from the software teams - we feel that we by rights should be able to do all the things we want to do. After all, it's for work, and all the data is right there. But too often we find ourselves having to adapt to the system than the other way round, finding a structure that is great but isn't quite exactly there for our own workflow and businesses. We have been so conditioned to these that when it comes to any new systems - even when talking about a Magic Tool - we find ourselves already compensating, scaling down, backtracking, imposing limits. Or - worse - because we have been working within the limitations of current systems and have been used to workarounds, we now think that that's exactly the way the ideal situation should be as well.

The Limitations Are Real

Mind you, I'm not ignoring that limitations exist. I have worked with so many companies where there are genuine limitations, like legacy systems imposed on them by global principals which are still running on dated tech or understanding of the "state of things".

Most companies these days work on a very fragmented, disjointed workflow that involve multiple systems that sometimes don't even talk to each other. Salesforce or something else for leads. Principal-provided customer loyalty systems. Oracle or ERP accounting systems. Excel files that hold context from years ago and are too messy to really be cleaned up and fit anywhere. Documentation and enterprise knowledge sitting in various repositories and PDF files. Maybe they also belong to a group and there you go, another system they have to also use for reporting because the group does.

And either they don't talk to each other at all, or they do "talk to each other" - i.e. integrate smoothly - but often have leakages. Line items for parts not transferring cleanly into Aftersales job sheets. Loyalty system benefits like vouchers and reward credits not being able to be recorded in accounting in a way that really reflects what they are, so have to be "translated" in a way that might end up completely misrepresenting the true picture and baffling the future CFO into a red-eyed, hair tearing session. Or piles and piles of paper still existing as paper because no one wanted the mess of digitalising that (or even knew where to start and how to do it properly).

Or worse! Someone having done all the digitalisation, consolidation years ago and later the business found it's just completely WRONG but it was too late to turn back and everyone's been living in the post-mess world ever since.

These things exist. But do you know? I'm pretty sure that in a lot of companies, people know the problems exist but haven't even fully mapped out the issues, leakages, breakdowns.

Then Work Backwards

That is why I always believe in starting with the Magic Tool. It's Magic. That's where we want to go, that's what we want to have if we have everything go our way.

Then we work backwards. We see how to get there. We map out the issues. Then we try to resolve the issues. In my experience, I've seen more than one time where some small wins can be had without even touching a single line of code, without even a new system being introduced. The Magic Tool oftentimes acts as a North Star that helps first identify issues, then see how some of them might be untangled even now. Why? Because the Magic Tool ignores what IS right now to what COULD be. It makes people realise that things weren't always this way. It helps shine a light on workarounds that may have existed for ages or where certain situations could already be resolved by some small changes to people and process.

The Magic Tool is the start. Work backwards, see how to get there. Start up a log of issues and leakages. Resolve the small ones, achieve the easy wins. Then plan how exactly the first version - almost an MVP - of the Magic Tool might work.

Two Thoughts to Round This Up

The Magic Tool - revisit it from time to time. Who knows, new ideas, new magic, new inspiration might come. The Magic Tool is supposed to be a living vision - a true North Star that should adapt with the times. A Magic Tool from years ago might not be the Magic Tool you see today.

And the Magic Tool approach works for anything. Imagine your Magic Team. Your Magic Market. Your Magic Office. Your Magic Company, your Magic Business. Even your Magic You.

When you begin with the Magic Whatever-it-is, you will create your ideal, your North Star, and then you can create your roadmap how to get there.