The people building the software join the people doing the work
AIM’s founder also works on site as an engineer.
The engineers who build the system enter the place where work actually happens, speak with the people who will use it, and learn how the work is done. Our on-site members and development team work together to turn that understanding into prototypes and improvements.
We choose this way of working because we believe a deep understanding of the workplace is the starting point for building a product people will continue to use.
We want to understand what lies behind a request
Some aspects of everyday work cannot be fully conveyed through words or documents.
Why a task became necessary. What people check before making a decision. How one task connects to the work before and after it. The small improvements experienced people make almost instinctively.
Working in the same place and learning from others helps us understand things we could not have understood otherwise.
We want to understand the background to a request and bring that understanding into the design. That is why we spend time in the field.
From the work in front of us to a product that keeps growing
Our first priority is to make something useful for the client in front of us. We ask people to use what we have built and work with them to understand what helps and what does not fit.
From there, we want to distinguish the circumstances unique to one workplace from challenges shared with others. What should become part of a common system, and what should be adapted to each workplace? Those decisions also require a deep understanding of the work.
We want to bring the experience of working on individual needs back into product design and improvement. Starting with something useful in one workplace, we aim to develop a product that can support more workplaces.
This does not mean taking a client’s specific information or deliverables into another workplace. We distinguish knowledge that can be shared from what must be protected individually, and proceed in accordance with contracts and agreements with our clients.
Our founder invests time in the field
Deciding what to build is also a decision about where the company is going.
That is why our founder values learning how work is done on site, seeing how people respond, and thinking through the next steps with the development team. We want responsibility for understanding the workplace to sit at the heart of our business.
We want to test and develop value through actual use. Through that continuing work, we aim to build a product that supports industry.
Learning from the field and taking responsibility for what we build
For us, working on site is a way to understand the work and build something better.
We bring what people teach us into design, what we learn through use into improvements, and our understanding of the workplace into the next step of the product.
We are committed both to helping our clients with their work and to developing something that creates lasting value.