The Open Book Principle

You remember open-book tests. You got to refer to a book or notes while you took them. Open-book tests taught you to apply knowledge to which you had access, rather than simply to memorize. They were about synthesis rather than regurgitation. Kind of like real life.

And then there’s the colloquial sense of the term. “I’m an open book” says I have nothing to hide, that I’m honest and forthright.

I’ve thought a lot about what 30 Bird Media needs to be in order to best help professionals in training and development. And that thinking is leading to lots of little decisions about how to make our products, what to include and not to include, and so on. But I keep coming back to the idea of the open book as a guiding principle for everything.

Here’s what it means to me.

First, we intend to be open on a technological level. Our native content is developed in XML according to the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) standard. That makes it easy to share and easy to output to many formats. And we’re going to make it available however our customers want it, with as few barriers as possible. Ebooks? Epub, the world-wide standard, with no arcane, proprietary locking system. Files? Whatever you want: Word, PDF, web help, you name it. Ancillary files like sample data, solutions, and PowerPoints? Freely available on the website.

Second, we want you to be able to affordably make the products your own. We care about our brand within our world of customers, but you want to build your brand. So, our products have minimal 30 Bird branding, and you can put your own logos and colors on the covers (or wherever you want them) for $2 over list. If you want books in color, that’s available for a small charge as well. In short: we’ll sell you the product you want, at a fair price.

Third, it’s about trust and transparency in our relationships. Call us about anything, anytime. We’ll answer or we’ll get back to you immediately. You’ll talk to Mary Fisher, our Director of Strategic Partnerships, or if you want, to me. Whenever you want, and about whatever you want. We’ll be an open book. And we’ll want that in return. That way, we’ll be able to build a strong, long-lasting, win-win relationship. Which is all we care about having.

The more I think about it, the more I like it. You’ve got to be guided by principles, and this one makes sense.

Always interested in your thoughts. Fill out the form below and we’ll send you a sample chapter of one of our courses.

Best,

Adam A. Wilcox
CEO, 30 Bird Media