Defining Our Culture

Leadership

Simon Simek makes the case in his book, Leaders Eat Last, that the role and purpose of leaders is to care for their subordinates.  While this attitude runs counter to theories of leadership demonstrated in most commercial organizations, Simek is convincing.  His examples of the successful leaders in the military are compelling.  Also convincing are his observations of the destructive consequences of corporate executives who attempt to manage rather than lead.

Complete System Design, Inc. (CSDI) is in a leadership role.  We assemble and direct technical resources on behalf of our clients to solve essential business problems.  The success of our clients is our true product.

We feel our leadership responsibilities keenly.  If you want a collaboration partner who is looking out for your best interest, CSDI may be the provider you need.

Some customers want their vendor to be an order taker.  Someone who will execute instructions efficiently.  We can do that, but we are bound by our process.  If our client makes a request that is not in their best interest, we will ask questions until we reach a mutual agreement on the right course of action.  Any other response will only lead to misunderstanding later in the engagement.

Integrity

The discipline of software development fosters a reverence for integrity.  The binary logic of computer languages leaves no room for ambiguity.  Errors are found and corrected only when an unflinching eye is focused on the truth. 

In our view, leadership and integrity are inseparable.  Mistakes are inevitable.  Individual contributors who make no mistakes seldom produce much of value.  Leaders who protect their people from reprisal for mistakes are rewarded with early reporting and better testing in the future.  Fearful technicians will obscure errors that may result in dire consequences in the future.

Few technology vendors are open about their mistakes.

If you engage CSDI , expect un-embroidered progress and status reports - simply the truth.   That is just who we are.

Responsibility

While CSDI assumes an unusual level of responsibility for our client's success, client share that responsibility.  Frequently, contractors or affiliates are engaged to provide specialized expertise.  Those experts rely on the client for business requirements.  Once deployed, the managed services provider will rely on those documents to resolve technical problems.  It is our client's responsibility to  provide unambiguous requirements in sufficient detail so that the expected system can be constructed.

Clients are also responsible for reviewing deliverables, as they are provided.  This increases the efficiency of deliverables and avoids unpleasant post-project surprises. 

Design

We are dedicated to the principal that our work product should both enable and free our customers.  We enable by providing organizations with greater efficiency and capability.  We free by attempting to make our clients less dependent on external expertise and cumbersome procedures.  Design is the core of our practice.  Well-designed projects allow tasks to be completed even when there is staff turnover.  Well-designed deployment processes allow operations personnel to test and implement software components without the perpetual assistance of the requestor.  Well-designed systems have sufficient instrumentation to allow operations personnel to isolate and resolve system problems, without re-engaging the designer.  Operational efficiency is an important design goal.

Practicality

The market is full of technology that can make organizations more efficient and more capable.  Frequently, vendors justify high software costs for large clients based on the distribution of small improvements across hundreds, or thousands, of employees.  Small companies may see dramatic improvements in their operation, but that improvement is enjoyed by a handful of staff.  Small companies demand pricing that is in line with the financial benefits they receive from the new system.  We achieve practical pricing by aggressive negotiation with providers.  Often, licensing is permitted that allows CSDI to hold the rights while sharing access and cost among many customers.

The systems we deliver to our customers must have little operational or administrative overhead.  Large organizations have IT staffs who can install upgrades, apply patches and monitor applications.  Small companies do not.  CSDI's managed services partners provide administration for our environments.  One operations team supports multiple platforms that service distinct customer environments.  Customers may require complex infrastructure but implementations and support are provided by simple interactions with a small support team.

Unleashing Creativity

The rapid advance of technology is apparent everywhere.  The capability of handheld devices, the falling cost of data services, and the technical marvels announced weekly on the news, assure us that new technology is out there to make our lives easier and our businesses more effective.  This has been true in large companies.   Many small business owners are still waiting to catch the wave.

There are some good reasons for this.  New innovations are initially priced for large companies where the expenses can be distributed and lowering cost per user.  Dramatic innovations may require new hardware or investments in expert talent that is out of the reach of small organizations. 

This has been true in the past. 

Now small companies are limited more by their own imagination then the barriers of cost or expertise.  Innovative solutions exist.

Share your vision with Complete System Design, Inc.

Leveraging technology to help small companies achieve their real potential is the reason for our business.