shipping-1.0.md

Shipping 1.0

https://randsinrepose.com/archives/1-0/ Managing Humans, chapter 19 Michael Lopp

1.0 is your first product. Most of the time it fails (start-ups). When it succeeds, it is a clever adjustment between multiple layers. Each layer impacts the others. Energy is spent to keep the pyramid balanced, around the Pitch (=idea). Article is focused on startup but it partially applies to new products of an established company too.

A 1.0 is as much about learning as it is about building

.

• Pitch / Idea

• People

  Your first few hires walk into a blank slate. Sure, they’ve got you, the keeper of the Great Idea, with your pitch and endless enthusiasm, but they don’t know where to find the bathroom. More importantly, they’ve got to digest the pitch and start to build your 1.0.

  Your job is to listen to people and continually refine the idea so much that it can guide when you’re not there to clarify

• Process

  Process is the means by which your team communicates. Whether this is via a wiki, email, or the hallway, any team larger than one needs to define a means to share information. This is not an argument for specifications, documentation, or a whiteboard filled with do’s and don’ts. You just need to agree how you’re going to share information.

• Product

  At some point, you’re going to need to fake being done. You’re going to need to release something which barely looks like your pitch because you don’t have product until a neutral party stares at something.

  You don’t have a company until you have a product

⚠️ Each layer shapes and moves those near it

Think of each change to people, process, and pitch as a shove in one direction. This movement requires compensation in the other layers otherwise the whole thing falls over

If, in your organization, your pyramid is not constantly adjusting to keep itself upright. Something’s wrong. If the new folks aren’t testing the pitch, they either don’t buy it or they don’t get it

⚠️The lower the failure, the higher the cost

A failure of pitch is a structural failure that affects your entire company. Everything in your company depends on the vision that you’ve presented and screwing that up can be fatal.