Free relationships, no children, drama-free, acquaintances... these days, in our society, nobody seems to be willing to engage.  And not only is this happening in personal relationships but it is also happening in the business arena, in the relationships that we all know as B2B.

But what if you are building a software product and you seriously require a partner to commit to the success of your product? What if you are looking for the "marrying type" in a world surrounded by projects just thrown over the wall?

Numbers

According to the numbers mentioned along Jim Carroll's video on the "The New Workforce!," 67% of the young people in the US believe that 2-5 years is what constitutes a "long term career," another 67% start looking for another job on their very first day.  This mentality is a threat to what is at the core of every long lasting relationship: Commitment.

Speaking of Values 

Last week, we had everybody in our company together in Hermosillo for our holiday celebration, so we took advantage of this to better define our values as a company.  We did so by playing Innovation Games.

We played two games: Prune the Product Tree (PTPT) to generate a bunch of ideas and Buy a Feature (BaF) to select a subset of core values.  We grouped the ideas/values generated during the PTPT game into 14 values and from those, during BaF, we were able to prioritize our values:

• Commitment
• Long Term Relationships
• Smart and Get Things Done
• Team Work
• Effective Communication

During the BaF game there was a long, fascinating discussion about Long Term Relationships where we discovered that there is something deeper to it.  It also constitutes a personal value that each developer and each member of the company has.  It is part of our culture.  When we added it all up, what we got is a real committed partner to our clients.

The "Marrying Type" formula

For those who preferred a more visual and synthetic picture, here's my "Marrying Type" formula:

Long Term Relationships = Commitment + Future Vision

We have been saying in the Nearsoft Quick Intro video, that we are focused on Long Lasting Relationships, but now we know that it is also a core value throughout our company. In a climate of loose commitments, this is one of the things that makes us different.