Iterating In the Open

Iterating in the Open
Dave HodsonJuly 2010
dave@davehodson.com/@davehod

Open Iteration
Continually creating and deploying the next version (iteration) of a product with a high-level of transparency and user engagement

Overview
Software methodologies
Launch strategies
Optimize for Best Fit
Open Iteration
Pros/Cons/Takeaways
Stealth mode?

Background
Serial Entrepreneur iPrint: NASD MessageCast: acquired by MSFT
Principal at Bing
Startup advisor
Open source, Java, cloud computing

Software Methodologies (The short version)

Waterfall
AKA “I start when you finish”
Long cycles/few releases
Valuable in very limited scenarios

Cowboy Coding
AKA “Code and Fix”
Ready, Fire, Aim!
Potential for very quick iterations/lots of releases
Prototypes

Agile
“The simplest thing that could possibly work”
Quick iterations
Continual feedback
Overloaded term so be careful

Launch Strategies

Feature Parity
Parity occurs when products have equal feature sets
Launch only when parity is achieved
Long initial release cycle
Chasing a moving target

Required Features
Potential for relatively longer initial release cycle
Ability to adjust to changing conditions/feedback
Minimum Viable Product (Eric Ries)

Minimum Features
Short release cycles
Ability to quickly adjust to changing conditions/feedback
Minimum Desirable Product (Andrew Chen)

Optimize for best fit

Optimize for Iterations
Initial Launch
Follow-on Iterations

What is open iteration?

Open Iteration
Initial vision and product roadmap
Communication – set expectations
Visibility and transparency
Rapid release cycle
Product functionality additive over time
Feedback helps drive features/priorities
Warts and all

“Of course we don't fault people for making requests. We encourage it ... So what do you do with all these requests that pour in? Just read them and then throw them away.”
37 Signal’s “Getting Real”

Pros
The ability to evolve the product based on reality (i.e. user feedback, actual utilization)
Feedback based on hands-on usage instead of looking at mockups
Users guiding both the features and the priority of the features

Cons
Don’t necessarily have business validation
A new visitor to the site may not see value on initial visit and never return (the “is that all there is?” problem)
Bugs, bugs, bugs. Must have a staging environment and plenty of automated tests, but when you’re running fast …

Takeaways
Iterating in the open is a net positive, but users need visibility on updates and bug fixes (blog posts and email are great for this)
Enable the site with an open feedback mechanism (e.g. uservoice)
Drive towards a Minimum Viable Product - have a strong grasp on metrics and value

Takeaways (cont)
Have internal analytics as well as external (use Google Analytics) to get a good picture what users are doing and the conversations about your site.
Ensure there is a mechanism to scale out quickly and cheaply (EC2/GAE/etc)
Automate as much as you can including unit tests, build and deployment scripts, etc. The time savings and reduction in errors pay off quickly.

What about stealth mode?

Stealth Mode
Overrated, but don’t embarrass yourself either
Ideas don’t matter nearly as much as execution does
“This is easy, it’s just an execution play”

Questions?

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Iterating In the Open

by Dave Hodson on Jul 28, 2010

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Iterating In the Open — Presentation Transcript