Simplifying Localization The Minimalist Approach - focusing on less to achieve more
I don't know how or why, but around 2017, I became attracted to the idea of minimalism. Something within me began feeling uncomfortable about adding more things to my life. I think the trigger was clothing; did I really need to have (and buy) so many clothes? Then I came across the idea of Project 333, where you are taught to live with 33 items of clothing for three months.
Be more with less - Simplify Your Life
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That seemed impossible to me, so on a personal level, it was interesting to try that experiment. It went very well, and I no longer needed eight pairs of pants, ten shirts, eight sweaters, and 15 T-shirts in my closet.
Little by little, I got more into the idea of minimalism and explored the "less is more" mindset. Now, when I browse through my Kindle, I see books that I've bought over the last few years, such as Digital Minimalism, The Joy of Less, Becoming Minimalist, and Essentialism, among others. If I check my podcast player, I see my subscriptions to The Minimalists and Simple Families.
If I look through my browser bookmarks, I see bookmarks on Becoming Minimalist.
You can see a pattern there that the idea of "less is more" has been curdling within me over the last few years. So when I read the news the other day that Netflix was changing its strategy and shifting its focus to producing fewer, better originals, I couldn't help but feel a certain déjà vu to that stage of creating my wardrobe capsule, in which "quality over quantity" was the ruling principle.
At the content level, I perceive that trend more and more. For example, in gaming, an industry I follow more closely for professional reasons, it's not surprising to see many developers cancel the development of more and more games and focus on their star products.
Maybe I'm biased, and with a bias that I look for news and things that reaffirm my approach to that lifestyle, that "less is more," but my perception and my hunch tell me that we are entering an era in which less content and more quality will be the trend to follow.
Having focus will be like a superpower. So, since this blog is about localization and leadership-related topics, it seemed logical to ask me what a localization strategy would look like if we follow this "less is more" mindset. What would a Minimalist Localization strategy look like?
That's what my post this week is about. I want to explore some ideas of elements we can explore to reduce localization to its most essential elements.
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1.- Less vendors can actually be more...
Every company has different needs; that is clear. I have gone through stages where we had many vendors for different reasons. But today, I consider the idea of fewer vendors an attractive one because of the possible benefits we can get. For example:
Consistency: Working with a single localization provider ensures consistency in terminology, style, and tone across all your localized content.
Cost Savings: Working with a single localization provider can save costs through bulk discounts, simplified invoicing, and reduced administrative overhead.
Time Savings: Working with a single localization provider saves time on project management, communications, and quality control, allowing you to focus on other business priorities.
Better Communication: Working with a single localization provider improves communication, reducing misunderstandings, greater transparency, and better collaboration.
2.-Less content can actually be more...
When we think about expanding globally and offering our product to more potential customers, our default mindset is usually to localize EVERYTHING. For example, if we want to enter Italy, we decide to localize all content to Italian. But do we really need ALL our content localized into Italian at once? Or do we say this because localizing everything is easier than considering a content localization and prioritization strategy? Not all content has the same visibility for users, and not all content is equally important for engagement. That's why localizing less content can actually be more...
3.-Less languages/markets can actually be more...
As in the previous point, localizing everything is usually our default go-to option for localizing content. However, wanting to cover more languages and markets than we can handle efficiently can be dangerous. More languages are not always better. When we focus on fewer languages, we can have cost-saving, faster time to market, and even better quality as we concentrate our resources on producing higher-quality translations. We can work more closely with our translators to ensure our content is accurate, culturally appropriate, and engaging for our target audience.
An international growth strategy focusing on four localized languages instead of twelve can be a very good decision as it allows us to scale up processes, resources, and budget. Starting with four languages and then gradually adding more is a localization minimalism approach that can help us grow slowly but surely.
4.-Less localization team members can actually be more...
I like the two-pizza rule that Jeff Bezos made famous during his time leading Amazon.
Jeff advocated that the team size should never be bigger than the fact that two pizzas are enough to feed the whole team. I think that's why Bezos never hired me! Since I alone can perfectly well eat two pizzas, haha; jokes aside, this theory of pizzas is closely related to the theory of lines of communication, which argues that every time we add a new person to a team, the lines of communication increase exponentially. In many cases, smaller teams can perform even better than teams that are far ahead of them in resources.
5.- Less localization tools can actually be more...
The number of localization tools is really shocking. For someone approaching our localization industry for the first time, they can't help but be surprised the first time they have the opportunity to read reports such as Nimdzi's Technology Atlas. This Atlas is an excellent starting point to evaluate the different tools at our fingertips (or pockets). Still, it's also a great opportunity to ask ourselves if we really need so many tools in our content creation and localization process.
6.-Less KPIs can actually be more...
We live in an era where we have access to numerous localization-related metrics. These KPIs include Translation Quality, Time to Market, Localization Cost, Translation Efficiency, Content Coverage, Customer Satisfaction, Market Penetration, Return on Investment (ROI), User Engagement, Conversion Rate, Brand Awareness, Customer Retention, Language Coverage, and Localization Maturity. However, do we really need so many metrics? It's essential to note that the more metrics we identify as "key," the more work we'll need to invest in tracking, normalizing, and visualizing data. So, instead of tracking ten, fifteen, or even twenty metrics related to localization, user experience, and quality, why not start with three metrics that genuinely matter for our localization strategy? We can always add more KPIs later as needed.
If you want to go deeper in the Localization metrics topics please check this post
Conclusion
We live in a world where we have access to more of everything. However, whether this makes us happier as consumers or more efficient and productive as employees or companies is unclear. I believe that the ability to maintain focus and achieve more with less will be the trend in the coming years. We'll see fewer services and fewer offerings but higher quality. I think that this "less is more" mindset can also be applied to our minimalist localization strategy.
Speaking of "less is more," I'm going to make a cup of coffee and watch a Marie Kondo TV show on Netflix. There’s a new season, and I like Marie Kondo's personality; so cute!
@yolocalizo
Transitioning from one job to another can be an enriching experience, or it can be a nightmare.
I have detected in my different movements, and after seeing many colleagues making transitions, that there are a series of usually effective tips.