So you’re planning to launch a product?
A Minimum Viable Product.
Excellent.
Here are FIVE things that you need to know.
And stick around to the end for your FREE Lean Startup Cheat Sheet
My name is Gary Straughan
This is Development That Pays
Just over a month ago, our adventure into Lean
- that’s “Lean” as in “The Lean Startup”
reached an interesting stage.
I launched a product.
A Minimum Viable Product.
The “Course of Some Kind” crystalised into
“Scrum vs Kanban - the Mini-course”.
Here are FIVE things that I learned along the way.
1: Launch before you’re ready
Are you the kind of person that hears
"Done Is Better Than Perfect"
or “Shipping beats perfection”
And thinks:
Really?
Are you sure?
If so, you’re in good company.
Hello.
My name is Gary.
I’m perfectionist.
October was hell for me.
My task was take existing material and to repurpose it into a mini-course.
That doesn’t sound like a recipe for torment.
But the more I worked on the course, the less I liked it.
I wanted to rip it up and start again.
If this sounds like you, then take a note from Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn
"If You're Not Embarrassed By The First Version Of Your Product, You’ve Launched Too Late"
So pick and date.
And launch.
Before you’re ready.
Bonus Tip:
Set things up so that the date can’t be moved.
I wrote the launch into an episode of Development that Pays.
At that point, I was committed.
2: Remember that there are more moving parts than you think.
Your focus will the on the product.
That’s only natural.
But a product won’t launch itself.
I had my three videos.
I also had an email service capable of sending time-delayed emails.
Three videos.
Three emails.
Simples.
But it’s probably not a great idea to send people direct to the video;
I'll need a page for each of them
And I’m going to need a form - so that people can sign up.
And the form is going to need page to “live on”.
And….
I think you get the message.
3: Launch to a limited audience
Although it’s important to launch before you’re ready,
you don’t have to be damn fool about it:
Not everyone has to see your “warts and all” version.
So launch… but make it a soft launch.
Wikipedia defines a soft launch as
a preview release of a product or service to a limited audience prior to the general
public.
In the case of the “Scrum vs Kanban the Mini Course”, I “hid” the announcement
in a “regular” Development That Pays episode.
Only people that watched one particular episode to the 4 and half minute mark
got to see the link.
4 - Be ready to make running repairs
So launch day rolls around
You push the Big Green Button and breath a sigh of relief.
But don’t relax too much!
To paraphrase a movie quote
Any time you launch a product
you got fifty ways you're gonna **** up.
If you think of twenty-five of them, then you're a genius... and you ain't no genius.
Well you may be you are a genius.
I am not.
A genius would not have
put out a video with TWO audio tracks.
A genius would not have forgotten to tell people
about the one day gap between lessons.
So expect things to go wrong….
And be at the ready to make running repairs.
5 - Remember that it’s an experiment
It bares repeating:
Remember that it’s an Experiment.
This one cuts two ways.
It’s a reminder not to over-egg the pudding.
This is a Minimum Viable Product, not a Final Perfect Product.
It’s also a reminder to measure.
Remember that your Minimum Viable Product is part of the Build Measure Learn loop.
And if you don’t measure, you won’t learn.
We’ll get to cheat sheet in a moment,
But first a reminder of the five points:
1. Launch before you’re ready 2. There are more moving parts that you think
3. Launch to a limited audience 4. Be ready to make running repairs
5. Remember that it’s an experiment
If you’re interested in the Lean Startup
I have a rather lovely cheat sheet for you
the Lean Startup Cheat Sheet.
On or around this video you’ll find a link,
Click the link, follow the instructions and it’s all yours.
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See you next week.