permanent note

Summary

• When there is a new idea or innovation, the first examples are often very rough.

Details

• Only after multiple iterations does the product start to look polished and finished

References

• This is Strategy - Seth Godin

Quotes

This is the story of every new software innovation. In fact it’s the story of almost everything engineers have ever created.

The first Wright Brothers plane flew a few hundred yards at a time. The first version of VisiCalc was underpowered and had few functions. The earliest bridges were shaky, unreliable, and made of vines. This is true for when we learn to walk or to speak a new language—or even visit a new community.

The secret of successful product development isn’t an innovation that bursts forth as a polished and finished product. Instead, it’s sticking with something that is almost useless and nurturing, sharing, and improving it until we can’t imagine living without it. The goal at the start is traction with a few, not perfection for the masses.

Not only for a product, but for the work of a baker early in their career, or of a coach working their way up the ranks. And it’s particularly true for system change over time. The first examples are always thinly populated and imperfect.

Related

• Consider ideas that are opposed to each other
• Original ideas come from trying to work on something slightly too difficult
• A poor idea well executed is better than a good idea poorly executed
• Radical Innovation
• People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to copy - Oliver Goldsmith
• Incremental Improvement
• If you wish to improve be content to appear clueless or stupid in extraneous matters - Epictetus
• Invest in good tools to improve the quality of your product