Lessons Learned in Software That Apply To Your Trucking Company

In this engaging discussion, Nic Sallis from Fleet Drive 360 delves into how principles from the software development world can be applied to the trucking industry.

With over 15 years of experience across software, international supply chains and large-scale steel fabrication, Nic shares invaluable insights on learning fast and failing fast. He explains the importance of transitioning from a quarterly or yearly improvement mindset to a weekly one, thereby giving businesses 52 opportunities a year to enhance their processes.

Nic illustrates this concept through practical examples such as quickly testing market demand before fully developing a new product and outsourcing non-core tasks to save time for more critical business activities. He highlights notable case studies, including Zappos and UPS, demonstrating how iterative design and minimal viable products (MVPs) can lead to successful business transformations.

The discussion extends to leveraging current technologies and tools to optimize daily operations in trucking, from driver recruiting to compliance management. Alongside these, Nic emphasizes the strategic need to constantly observe, orient, decide, and act—an approach known as the OODA loop, which originated in military strategy.

This methodology aids in making swift yet informed decisions, ensuring businesses remain agile and competitive.

Our encouragement from this is to take a step back, look at just one problem in your business, and then leverage mental agility and come up with a solution you can test quickly.

For UPS, that was removing left turns, for Zappos, that was selling a pair of shoes, and then buying it at a retail store and shipping it. As you test something new, you will be able to evaluate metrics for success and make iterative improvements.