The Delivery Man: The Art of turning ideas into products in Silicon Valley

Nowadays, everyone is walking around with their faces in their phones or sitting at a computer staring at a screen for hours on end. But how much does the average person know about the processes it takes to get those apps and programs we use up and running? If you’re not someone who works in the tech industry, you probably don’t know much. As someone who lives and works in Silicon Valley as a non-tech employee, I was excited to pick up a copy of Sebastien Taveau’s new book, The Delivery Man: The Art of turning ideas into products in Silicon Valley. Many of my clients work in the tech industry, so over the years, I have gathered bits and pieces of knowledge about how their jobs work and why they are called into emergency meetings in the wee hours of the night (or morning). Having worked for companies such as Mastercard, Zelle, and Paypal, Taveau explains some of the processes used in the tech industry as they pertain to his job as a delivery man.

The Delivery Man is part memoir and part how-to guide. As Taveau states in his book, “…while the Delivery Man can be quite unnoticed within a company, the role is critical to the success of many product launches.” Understanding how products come into existence is an integral part of being a good delivery man, and so Taveau outlines each role involved from start to finish. Finding a need, strategizing, putting together the project, and getting an executive sponsor, business analyst, and product manager are just the basics. There are so many things that can go wrong in every stage of product development, and I enjoyed reading Taveau’s anecdotal stories. Taveau shares a takeaway at the end of each chapter which is very helpful in summing things up. He talks about bosses, managers, and coworkers and the importance of good leadership. He also talks about negativity, keeping on task, not getting sloppy, and of course, the hard work that goes into creating and delivering a product. My favorite takeaway was a methodology that everyone can apply, whether in the tech industry or not. SSOCCADD is a military concept associated with repetitive training that allows a person to flow from one stage to the next, kind of as if he or she was on autopilot. Taveau does a great job of breaking down each step in the book.

The Delivery Man is the perfect book for anyone who is thinking about going into the tech industry, training young students, or is an entrepreneur just looking to get a better understanding of what goes on in the world of tech.