A product is not a company is not an organization, although they’re all inextricably related.
- A product (or service) is what you make. It’s the thing you provide to your customers.
- A company is the “who” that delivers the product. It’s not an intricate definition of who, it’s simply how customers and potential customers think of you. A company can be wonderful, but if everyone thinks they’re a jerk, it doesn’t matter.
- An organization is the internal arrangement of a business, how it does what it does. It’s the process used to make and deliver the thing. This is harder to see, but if you’ve ever worked for a larger company you know what this looks like.
It’s possible to have a great product with a terrible company or organization. Similarly possible that the company and organization are great, but the product itself isn’t. Long term success is inevitably determined by how effectively you do all three.
At this point you might be thinking, “what’s the point?”. This might not seem relevant to everyone but, as with most models, there’s value in abstraction and cross-application. Consider how this relates to everything you do:
Your product is the work you do. It’s the outcomes you drive, the things you create.
Your company is you. It’s how people think of you, whether or not they enjoy working with you, and if you bring prestige and acclaim to a project.
Your organization is how you work, with others and alone. It’s your process.
Do you make great things, drive great results? Do people love working with you? Do people trust you to employ an effective process? These things apply to everything you do at both a micro and macro level, no need to reserve it exclusively for businesses.