Learning to consult. Learning to live. Irina Nazarova @ Friendly.rb 2025

1. 1 Learning to consult Learning to live Irina Nazarova Evil Martians, AnyCable, SF Ruby
2. 2 Learning to consult Learning to live
3. Learning to live 3 Learning to consult
4. go-to agency for startups building developer products
5. customers 5
6. 6 What is life? What is the purpose of life?
7. 7 -so much randomness, chaos, chance -does free will even exist? -everything gets lost and forgotten? -the jury is out… -… Human life a bad abstraction!
8. 8 Human culture is a better abstraction to analyze the war of all against all cooperation discovery creation continuation … culture 🧙
9. 9 What is human culture? -knowledge (books, teachings) -art -way of life How we transform ourselves and future generations
10. 10 It’s about how your existence influences other people, whether on purpose or not It’s not about the memoir you write when you’re wise and old
11. 11 -how you invent your life -things you focus on -how you solve hard problems -how you express feelings -how you do the hardest things this becomes a part of the culture
12. 12 If you learn to collaborate, then with every interaction you spread this knowledge and skill further!
13. The purpose of human culture is 13 to learn to collaborate
14. 14 To consult is to collaborate
15. 15 The key to consulting: resolve the information asymmetry Information Asymmetry: Hidden Characteristics Hidden Actions Costly Information Gathering YOU CUSTOMER
16. 16 1. Understand value 2. Communicate value 3. Optimize value Resolving information asymmetry
17. 17 how your work creates value inside customer org Learn how the customer organization works better than customer Understand not what you can do, but what their problems and goals are. Understand
18. 18 -Test high-risk hypotheses about the world -Iterate to fi nd a product that can be built to capture a market Understanding a startup
19. 19 -customer seems not super happy Example: misunderstanding
20. 20 Solution: separate product and platform engineering
21. 21 the value your work creates what the goal is what is achieved, outcomes expectations Flag changes to expectations immediately. Communicate
22. 22 -we start on amazing high note: everyone’s excited -everything’s so good, no need to communicate so much -customer looses track of progress -we loose track of purpose, the end goal -BOOM Example: miscommunicating
23. 23 the value that your work creates inside customer org Proactively explore and solve more and more important customer problems Trust and relationship is built Optimize
24. 24 Example: optimizing
25. 25 Example: optimizing How it started How it’s going
26. 26 Bring value upfront start with sharing open source, knowledge, experience, free consultations etc.
27. 27 the value you create in cusomer’s organization How to consult in 1 - 2 - 3 UNDERSTAND COMMUNICATE OPTIMIZE
28. 28 -Understand -Communicate -Optimize Example: Startups on Rails research
29. 29 1. Position: what you’re uniquely great at 2. Deliver value (open source, blog, free consultations) 3. Add social proofs 4. Place links to where people see them How to market
31. 31 Thank you!
32. 32 See you in San Francisco! YOU ARE INVITED! November 19 - 21 San Francisco Ruby Conference sfruby.com
33. 33 See you in San Francisco! evilmartians.com anycable.io irina@evilmartians.com inazarova @ X, Bsky
34. 34 Adrian, Lucian, Jakob, Alex and Stefan