COUPE DE GRACE

Quite simply, research is where new ideas are born so it would be quite pointless to lament the lack of ideas, the ocean of sameness and then, not invest some (serious) time into research.

Research at Grace Brigade must be an attitude, not just a codified way of working. Quite simply,

people who are not curious, don’t read, don’t scout for new things… they don’t have a place here.

Attitude aside, what does Research mean at Grace Brigade?

1. When tasked with a new project, we ALWAYS start with a research sprint. That is, a period of time (usually a week or so) during which we collect inspiration and explore ideas. At this stage, it is basically forbidden to come up with proposals. We need to resist the urge to rush into the next phase (coming up with a concept or a solution) before having gathered sufficient information. Or, in other words, we must lose ourselves a bit before we find the right path.
2. The previous point must be communicated to the client so that the deadline for the proposal is managed accordingly. Taking a full week to do nothing but “pure research” seemingly goes against our “pragmatic” mantra but the time we invest here, to ultimately come up with sharper ideas, is an investment that will reap rewards further down the timeline (when, instead of trying to make half-baked ideas work, we will have powerful concepts to start with).
3. Even the way we do research is subject to a process of ongoing research and experimenting. How about, for example, doing digital safaris with opinion leaders instead of relying on just GA4 data and a bit of benchmarking? This example applies to “Experience” but the same spirit must extend into all other projects.
4. Grace Brigade devotes a portion of its time (treating it just as any other client-mandated project) to R&D experiments. That is, we pick a topic, a technology or an issue and we develop/prototype/demo/MVP a solution (the advancements are chronicled in our “Test Kitchen”, the R&D area of our own website). These experiments are a way to go beyond literature. More often than not, the best way to learn about something, is to get your hands dirty with it.
5. Research is about reading, it’s about finding novel ways to research, it’s about tinkering with actual experiments… All of this has been covered in the previous points but there is one last element that is just as important: our rolodex. That is, cultivating a network of contacts, friends, partners that we routinely involve in our projects. The New Wave is an open movement and we want to pull other people in its orbit. More than that, we need the help of other creatives, coders and professionals to accomplish something truly outstanding. Everyone in Grace Brigade is welcome to think of cool people and companies we’d love to collaborate with.

Kiss might sound romantic, but this is in fact about sheer pragmatism: Keep It Simple, Stupid!

When presenting our work, we should focus on the advantages...and leave everything else in the annex. We must show, rather than tell. When delivering, we must jettison everything that doesn’t add value.

When imagining solutions, we must aim for simplicity (aka, “complexity, resolved”), looking for workarounds, for ways to make things leaner and easier to handle/maintain (aka Future-proof).

When writing code,

we must go back to the original spirit of Agile, which was best summed up by Kim Kardashian (Get your F******* ass up and work!).

On the project management side, it’s fewer calendar invites and more stuff out. It’s more ideas and fewer slides. Let’s focus on the actual priorities.

In short: CUT THE CRAP and, fittingly, this is a short entry in our otherwise verbose manual.

Application maintenance isn’t the sexiest part of this job, is it?

And yet, it matters. This is why we took the time to rethink it, from the ground up.

First of all, our “products” are thought and built in order to need as little maintenance as possible.

Software development sometimes has a form of planned obsolescence built in, making AM (as it’s fondly called) a habit you can’t shake off. Not here. Not on our watch.

And yet, sometimes a fix, or an adjustment will be needed. Our approach to that is to actually solve the issue, rather than simply apply a patch. This way, you don’t just “close a ticket”. You make sure it stays closed.

Talking about tickets, there is not escaping the Jira wack-a-mole game but our Application Maintenance contracts include one, very serious extra service: an advisory support meant to help you shape a long-term roadmap. That is, while we are busy fixing leaks, we still find time to help you think about the big picture.

We solve problems, à la Mr. Wolf. Fast, and reliably so. This in turn sets us free to focus on the future, which is where you want to stay focused anyway.

We already mentioned, in our “Research” coup de grâce, how important networking is. “Scouting as A&R” refers to a specific side of it, namely, the galaxy of tech solutions that revolve around the world of eCommerce.

At Grace Brigade we understand eCommerce to be an ecosystem, made of core functionalities/platforms and, potentially, a galaxy of nifty little solutions or apps that promise to improve the overall effect.

Now, plenty of that is pure fluff so our first responsibility should be about separating the real gems from the mere hype. The fully-functional from the half-baked. Secondly, we should build a relationship with those solutions and be among the first to try them out, either as part of our R&D experiments or in a client-mandated project (the Romantic part should allow for some experimenting, provided it’s clearly communicated as such).

Part of our job is to curate tech stacks, applying to solution design the same spirit of an A&R department at a music label.

Curating a stack means that, ultimately, we need to balance our pragmatic+romantic mantra. Some solutions might be the perfect workaround to avoid using more expensive stuff. In other situations, they could be a way to inject some poetry into the project. The balance must always be respected.

Romanticism comes in many shades and paying attention to the details is one of them. Part of the reason why most eCommerces look the same is down to the sloppy recycling of templates, with a “good enough” mentality when it comes to everything outside the realm of pure functionality.

Again, this would be unthinkable when designing a flagship store (where much thought goes into the shape of the door handle, the art of the walls of the exact hue of a surface print) but, in this era soon to end, eCommerce is little more than a point-of-sale.

Our projects sometimes have a “big bang” idea at their core…but they should also have a smaller set of surprises/careful touches that telegraph a point of difference (and a premium price).

This is not just about the “front of the house”. We should also think about the “Operator Experience”. That is, the experience offered to the company’s employees working on the back-end of an eCommerce operation. That part too, often neglected because it’s hidden from (external) view, should be carefully dealt with, not least because improvements on OX can make the whole operation smoother to run, turning this coup de grâce into something very pragmatic.

Going back to the “front of the house”, how about creating AI agents that look & behave like concierges, not just uncouth bots? Agents trained like butlers, not errand boys. A Graceful approach to AI. Or rather, a small example of how we think, in the first place, about AI.

This is romantic. But quite pragmatic too. At Grace Brigade we speak continuously about the need to break through the clutter by experimenting and doing something original. The pragmatic part is about understanding that not everything has to be innovated from scratch.

Sometimes we can obtain an innovation (or a novel effect) simply by tweaking or perverting existing solutions.

Take product recommendations for example: everyone does them. But they mostly recycle the same old models/filter combinations.

We could instead take a page from the recommendation solutions used by Chinese platforms such as Temu. They understand that, sometimes, you need to recommend products that are completely out of the “correlated” space. Shopping isn’t just about browsing endless variations of the same item, or the most similar category. Sometimes you need to show an entirely new thing. A less deterministic approach, which values surprise and novelty, on top of the other, more traditional recommendation logics.

This is just an example of how we think: we take a page from a nascent trend in UX, from a specific corner of the internet, and then ask how we could implement it, in a different context and without rebuilding everything from scratch.

One of the reasons (they are starting to add up!) why eCommerce websites all look the same is that they have been built after an über-utilitarian, functional mindset that treats shopping as problem to be solved, not a pleasure.

Don’t get us wrong, an eCommerce website is not an art performance. It should work and it should be intuitive, but does the removal of every type of friction really make sense?

Are eCommerce platforms basically a checkout?

We don’t think so, unless we are talking about ultra-functional commodities you need on the quick.

In all other instances, we think projects should be infused with little surprises, ephemeral things that make shopping more romantic and more pleasurable.

Why do we see a bunny popping up in the Loewe logo when browsing the product page for a bunny charm? There is no “economic sense” in that choice, unless you understand that economy and the psychology of buying are not wholly rational. Then it makes sense.

This goes back to one of our original arguments: that we should treat eCommerce as a flagship, not just an online store. That we should turn it into a place of cult, not just a point of conversion.

Beyond eCommerce, it’s quite easy to see how some of the fondest memories are formed not because you saw a huge ad plastered on top of Le Louvre but, rather, because something positively surprised you. Our approach to brand direction skews towards the whimsical rather than the muscular.

If you listen to vendors, there is always (and only) one solution: more tech.

Part of our job is to help you find ways to counter that.

We want to give you a lean stack. One that works when on pressure, without breaking the bank.

We don’t have a one-size- fits-all approach to this but the urge to help you find a way to spend less on licenses is always there. Maybe it’s about using chat-based programming to recreate a custom version of a ridiculously-priced add-on. The software equivalent of Zara (we call this Canal Street Software, stay tuned for more). Or maybe it’s open-source tools with a bit of customisation instead of legacy solutions.

Or it could just be about finding clever ways around constraints. This is to say that Pragmatism isn’t devoid of intelligence, or even romance.

This is a company where people should have fun.

You don’t create, research or innovate in a place where everyone is just “putting in the hours”.

We bring ideas, we throw parties, we implement stuff that gets talked about.

The same goes for working with clients. This is not a company of suits and boring steering committees. There should be a bit of lightness. Teamwork (how can you innovate when you barely smile at each other?). Wacky brainstormings. Unorthodox presentations. A few lunches. And it’s ok to have wine.

The previous nine coups de grâce are essentially about detailing our philosophy and our approach. If you found yourself nodding to most of them, then we are probably a good match.

There is just one last thing that must be underscored: we deliver what we promise.

Our projects go live. On time. And they add value.

This is the one thing that our founders wanted to retain from their previous experiences. Leaner, more efficient, more poetic. But, on top of that, or possibly to make all of that work, RELIABLE.