10 things wot I learnt about lean startup
It’s f*****g hard, that’s for sure!
Laurence McCahill, Spook Studio
First, a bit of background
“Life’s too short to build something nobody wants” Ash Maurya, Spark59
Waterfall = fail?
Chart by @lfittl
Agile/lean=wiggle it!
Chart by @lfittl
“At least 2/3 of our ideas are never going to work. The other 1/3 will take 3/4 iterations to get right” Marty Cagan
Lean startup cycle
Key principles of lean
Test your assumptions
Focus on customer needs
Reduce cycle times
More facts, less intuition
Less documenting more doing
Right action right time
So, onto my lean learnings…
RFPs suck! (requirements =
hypotheses)
1
“I don’t care how smart you are. Every design solution you put out there is a hypothesis.” Jeff Gothelf, Neo
Egos and lean don’t mix well
2
© rhonda_liberman
It’s not about you anymore
© rhonda_liberman
Context changes tactics
3
Startup prioritizer
What’s most important for your startup?
There’s a finite amount of resource available
Balanced teams make better
products
4
business
design technology
Cust dev is hard (& founders should do it)
6
“Customers don’t care about your solution. They care about their problems.” Dave McClure, 500 Startups
Bad news gets worse the
longer you leave it
7
“How can I bounce my ideas off the market cheaper and faster?” Rob Fitzpatrick, Dex.io/FounderCentric
Opinions = guesses (& the founder always wins)
8
"Success is not delivering a feature; success is learning how to solve the customer's problem.” Mark Cook, Kodak
MVP ! minimum
viable pants
9
1 metric that matters beats
100 that don’t
9
“Vanity metrics make you feel good but don’t offer clear guidance on what to do.” Eric Ries, The Lean Startup
It’s ain’t no silver bullet
(nor cheap/fast!)
10
In summary: How to get it right…
Rip up the spec and host a workshop
1
Biz, design & tech around the same table
2
Decide on key priorities from day 1
3
1
Work with people you like (that trust you)
4
Kill your ideas before you build them
5
Talk with customers
throughout
6
Don’t guess, learn (there are no answers in
the boardroom!)
7
Make your MVP minimum awesome
8
Find your one metric
that matters
9
Own the process don’t let it own you
10
Lean
© alykat
anyone?
There are tons of tools out there…
But if you only use one…
Some further reading
www.welovelean.com
Laurence McCahill @welovelean
Thanks!