How to Make Progress in Your Business: The Zappos Experience

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

If you work in the IT field, you are probably familiar with words like scrum and sprint, and you may have your own experience using these techniques. You will be very curious to know how you can optimize these techniques to be even more effective. If you are never an IT specialist, then you will also be interested in reading this article, since Scrum and Sprint can be used not only in IT, but also in any other short-term or long-term projects.

The Zappos Labs division of the online store Zappos launched an innovative service that took the company's employees only 12 weeks to develop. The project management methodology helped Zappos quickly cope with a rather difficult task.

Zappos Labs has an ambitious goal of exceeding its own standards and continually raising the bar for itself and the industry. According to senior manager Adam Goldstein, this is expected to happen in the next few years, but not tomorrow.

However, some of Zappos Labs' innovative projects are already being implemented. For example, the project Ask Zappos ("Ask Zappos"), which was launched at the end of June: a person can take a photo of any thing he likes, for example, it can be the shoes of a girl you accidentally noticed on the street. Or take a billboard shot that shows the model with the scarf you want for yourself. Submit this photo to Zappos and store staff will find the item for you on Zappos.com or elsewhere.

“We are developing a customer-centric approach, even if we have to go beyond Zappos to do so. If you see a thing that you like, take a photo of it and send the photo to us, we will find it for you free of charge. You can send a photo via MMS, e-mail, or just upload it to your Instagram with the hashtag #AskZappos,”commented Virginia Ruff, author of the project.

Interestingly, the Ask Zappos project was completely created in 12 weeks (from idea to launch) using the sprint methodology. Sprint is a kind of "short run", the duration of which is usually from two to four weeks; after the sprint, all members of the project team evaluate the results they have achieved, and, if necessary, change the strategy before starting a new sprint. The authors of the Ask Zappos project decided to reduce the duration of each sprint to one week, that is, 12 sprints were held in 12 weeks. The Sprint is part of the Scrum operational project management methodology that IT pros are familiar with. However, the Scrum philosophy can be applied not only to IT tasks, but also to projects in any industry, if you want to optimize the work of the project team and achieve better results. According to the rules, during a sprint, no one has the right to change the list of work requirements entered in the sprint reserve.

After the functions and tasks are distributed among the team members, a 5-10 minute Scrum begins every day. At the beginning of each day, each team member reports what he was doing yesterday, what he plans to do for the project today, and also describes the problems or questions if any. These ten minutes are tactical in nature, and at the end of the week (or after two, four, etc. weeks, depending on the duration of one sprint) there is a "retrospective": the team discusses the results it has achieved. This is very important, as it helps to understand in which direction you are moving, to determine what you are doing well and what is not yet very good. It also helps to control the work of each of the team members.

In the case of the Ask Zappos project, using a sprint, it became possible to correctly distribute and control testing tasks for all the mechanics that were proposed in the project.“Text messaging, hashtag tracking of Instagram photos, and handling client requests - these were all tested many times before the client was able to use this feature. We had to make sure that the client could submit their request without experiencing any inconvenience. We also needed to provide all the necessary employees who were to respond to client requests. We had to be sure that they would be able to promptly help the client, even if the request was complex enough. As a top manager, I don’t tell my employees: “You have to do it”. Team members must themselves be motivated to achieve the goal of the common cause. If this is not the case, coercion will not help,”says Virginia Ruff.

“This is not the case where person A dictates to person B,” adds Virginia. "The team does the work together, and all team members trust each other, responsibility to each other plays an important role here."

In many companies that use this technique, each sprint is two to four weeks long. However, Virginia Ruff has learned from personal experience that reducing the sprint to one week has a much greater effect: "Team members are more focused on the project when they know that the results will need to be presented in the next five days."

“What I really love about one-week sprints is that they are flexible enough to quickly change any part of your project. If we decide to make any adjustments, we can do it as early as the next Monday, at the very beginning of the new sprint. There is one rule that we try to adhere to without deviation: we do not change direction, say, on Wednesday, just because someone said something. Another two whole days before the start of the next sprint. This rule helps us to avoid many serious mistakes,”commented Adam Goldstein.

“The Ask Zappos project was prepared in 12 weeks. Every day, when customer requests come to us, we understand how we can improve our service, and sometimes we find shortcomings that need to be eliminated. Of course, it is very difficult to create an ideal project in 12 weeks that does not require any adjustments. We have created an effective project, in which, of course, additions and changes are inevitable, and which we will improve in the long term. Important: do not wait until you create something that will absolutely suit thousands of buyers. First, let 100 people use the service, and then, after receiving feedback, you will understand where to move on,”adds Adam Goldstein.