Cogent as a business

Updated June 18

Along the Cogent Consulting journey we've documented a few different sets of values, principles and goals. Our manifesto was created quite early. Recently we've supplemented this with a simple list of values

• Openness


• Integrity


• Respect


• Craftsmanship


• Collaboration

and goals

• Develop non-consulting sources of income


• Build some kick-ass software


• Work with good people


• Have flexibility in lifestyle and the amount of time I want to work

We should probably rationalise all this (and I just added that task to Runway), but first I want to add some more philosophical statements that occurred to me after I read Small Giants by Bo Burlingham.

• We need to make a profit, otherwise we can't achieve our other goals. That's a constraint


• Doing the right thing for the customer is more important than maximising profit


• Our families are more important than our customers


• For everything we do we should ask not 'is it profitable', but 'is it the right thing to do?'.


• Right now, product development depends on consulting, and consulting depends on business development. We need to bear that in mind when we're setting priorities.
  

When I started to write I thought there would be more points, but combined with our existing manifesto that seems to say most of what I need to say.