Introducing Cody Rassi

Adam Thomas, Principle Solution Architect

TOPHAT LTD has had the privilege to participate in an intern program offered by Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU). This program is a partnership between Launch Fishers and IWU to provide skilled interns to Launch companies.  As a member of Launch Fishers, we applied for this program and are very honored to have been selected.

TOPHAT LTD was pleased to get assigned Cody Rassi as an intern.  Cody is a finance and marketing major.  He is both well-spoken and well-written.  One of the challenges at TOPHAT LTD is communicating to our potential clients what we actually do.  There are three key hurdles we face when doing this:

1. Geek Speak vs. Business Speak:  We think in technical terms while our clients think in business terms. I had the opportunity in my previous position as an Analyst at Dow AgroSciences to work with another software engineer who taught me the importance of terminology.  He was originally from Bosnia and had to learn English as a second language.  At the beginning of every project he made a deliberate effort to create a dictionary of terms used by that particular group of scientists in their daily work.  This proved highly valuable when translating what was going on in the technical project to how it impacted the scientists’ activities.  One of my goals for Cody is to help TOPHAT LTD put what we do into business terminology.
   
2. Professional Service Not a Product:  Most business managers are familiar with purchasing products such as office supplies and computers to help their businesses run better.  Oftentimes, this “purchasing a product” mentality gets carried over when building custom software solutions.  However, that mentality does not fit well with the software development process and will often cause frustrations.  Another one of Cody’s goals is to help us communicate clearly the service we’re offering.
3. IT Doesn’t Just Happen:  Many of our clients may be purchasing a custom software solution for the first time. Every project needs a plan and a budget.  When developing software or deploying any sort of information technology (IT), you have a large degree of freedom in how you do it.  Without a plan to clearly define where you’re going and a budget to help you prioritize what has to be done versus the “nice to haves”, a project can get mired in indecision remarkably quickly.  Another one of Cody’s projects will be helping us put together an example of a software project design document.

As listed above, Cody is going to help us connect with our clients.  My hope is that his business finance and marketing background will help him translate my “geek speak” into meaningful concepts for our clients.  I look forward to Cody’s contributions to the TOPHAT team.  Welcome aboard, Cody!