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

we

startups

Why go Lean?

“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

Lean UX 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…

The lean canvas

Some further reading

www.welovelean.com

Laurence McCahill @welovelean

Thanks!