email us at amarts@artifact3.com

Name: Amin Marts. No worries if you mispronounce the first name, I’ll correct you.

What I’m interested in: Simply, finding solutions for problems, excuse me, challenges.

What I bring to the table: Big picture thinking. Ruthless execution. The ability to distill complex topics into bite-sized and easy to digest contextual stories.

Turn On’s: Smart design. Simple solutions to complex problems. Billboards that make me stop, think, and take a picture to share with you. Jargon. Most of all, flowy singletrack.

Turn Off’s: Jargon. Overly complex solutions that don’t scale. Ambiguous messages. Unintelligible handwriting. Skiers who wear Starter jackets.

My Favorite Tools: iPad, Keynote, Mindmeister, DropBox, old skool whiteboards, OmniFocus, Glenn Beck.

Things I (admit) I read: HBR, Economist, anything Seth Godin writes, WSJ, on occasion the International Herald, when feeling snarky The New Yorker.

January’s Wish: To lose the twang I’ve developed from watching too much CMT during Christmas.

Best way to contact me: Through my twitter or email. I’m easy to find.

What’s in a Name?

Plainly, Artifact3 begins with the word ‘artifact’. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, an ‘artifact’ is something created by humans usually for a practical purpose. This can be thought of in any number of ways. A hammer is an artifact. A mirror is an artifact. A holiday fruitcake, is not an artifact simply because it serves no useful purpose.

Thinking business, moreover business communications. Artifacts as we see them are the symphony of voices heard through your white papers, technical manuals, training courses and marketing glossies. Simply, you might have created them, but we make them stereophonic.

The numeral ’3′, is my personal favorite. It describes our secret sauce. Possibly not so secret since I’m sharing it with you however we believe in transparency.

A3V is our philosophy; Align, Archetype, Actualize and Verify.

The Align stage speaks to aligning your learning objectives with your organizational goals. The supportive framework which helps to craft this definition includes activities that will identify the target audience, success metrics, and stakeholders.

The second step in the process is the Archetype phase. In this phase the conceptualized learning objectives are turned into a tangible artifact. Happening in parallel with this conceptualization is the collection and analysis of supportive content. This analysis includes the assessment of gaps which if not identified early can severely hinder successive steps in the process.

Next, is Actualization. This phase culminates in the delivery and implementation of the artifact. The artifact being the dynamic technical course, white paper or sales guide we have collectively agreed as the best way to reach the desired audience. Concept, design and articulation of the collaboratively concluded learning objectives intersect here.

The entire process terminates in the Verify stage. Here we’re speaking the language of alignment again. It’s critical to verify that we’ve addressed the agreed upon learning objectives. Equally as important as determining if we’ve met success metrics is determining,

  • How has the white paper, technical course, sales guide, or manual been used?
  • Who has used the materials?
  • Was the appropriate audience targeted?
  • Where is the content the strongest (and where is it the weakest)?
  • How has the final deliverable aligned with marketing and sales goals?
  • Has it generated stronger leads?
  • Is the sales channel more capable of communicating the value of the solution?

These are but a few of the lenses we look through when analyzing the impact of the artifact. It’s this proven process that turns the mundane everyday communications that your customers are expecting, into impactful, focused conversations that they are sure not to forget.

Posted by on 05.05.2009 at 7:09am   Tags: , ,
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