It's a tale as old as time. 

No, not Santa Claus. I am talking about why so many software engineers, and their managers, can’t help themselves from building tools and infrastructure that is readily available in the market. 

I will never forget a customer meeting two years ago with their engineering managers and leader. The executive running the meeting admonished his team during a lively debate on priorities, “Your job is to build products - not tools!” That meeting and his stern reprimand made a deep impression on me. My first reaction was to reflect on whether we are guilty of this at EdgeIQ. The good news is that we’ve got a culture of NOT writing software and services that we can readily buy and integrate - especially proven solutions. 

Whether you are creating a category like EdgeIQ or transitioning to a digital first connected product business - you just don’t have the time and resources to build AND MAINTAIN undifferentiated tools and infrastructure software. 

For example, does writing your own FOTA management tool really strategically differentiate your offering? Is the one you wrote implemented in an OS-, cloud- and application-agnostic workflow? Did you really write your own remote diagnostics tools or are you re-purposing an SSH tool from an IT vendor? Are putting either of these accomplishments on your LinkedIn profile going to help you standout and look special?

I get that even small changes can feel painful and they come with a price. But what price is higher - not using purpose built, off the shelf tools, or building and maintaining your own at the expense of the product you should be building. The elves learned the hard way - they should have spent the past year building toys, not tools. Just think of the billions of disappointed customer relationships they created. 

Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for a New Year full of Product Innovation!