In a recent PwC survey of 1,757 executives, 93% indicated that organic growth through innovation will drive the greater proportion of their revenue growth. For those of us in product design and development, this means looking at better ways of bringing new products to market with methods like The Lean Startup.
This year’s Lean Startup Conference will cover the topic in depth and draws a diverse crowd of experts from companies like IDEO, Google, IDEALAB, Dropbox, and more. The speakers, which include a range of product and design leaders from enterprises and startups, will come together on December 8th to share their “superpowers” of delivering products faster, getting more feedback, and iterating from good enough to great. This year, I am headed to Lean Startup Conference to talk about the downside of expertise—namely, how it prevents us from shipping.
Anyone who has built and released a product understands how terrifying the process can be. The weeks leading up to release often involve adding an array of last minute features just to quiet the dissenting voices in your head.
Unfortunately, our fear of shipping is often driven from something deeper—our fear of getting it wrong. As experts, we are paid to get it right. If we don’t anticipate a certain industry trend, perfect the onboarding flow, or create the most intuitive experience, we believe we will be judged.
It is precisely this fear of judgment that prevents experts from shipping.
In my talk, Getting Comfortable Shipping Imperfect Products, I’ll share how my fear of judgment prevented me from shipping, as well as how I learned to get over that fear.
Spoiler Alert: The key to getting over your fear of shipping is to be a scientist rather than an expert. Scientists release an experiment and objectively determine its results. Scientists are less afraid to ship, because they know they will learn. Scientists don’t need to be right.
In this talk, I will also share some tips on embracing your inner scientist when shipping a product, including how to record data without emotion, how to not skip the learning phase, and how to get results faster by shipping smaller pieces of the product.
By sharing my story, as well as some hopeful tips, I hope to provide another “superpower”—the scientific method—that will help reduce your anxiety about shipping an imperfect product.
Where to Find Us at the Lean Startup Conference
This year, Pivotal Labs is a presenting sponsor of the Lean Startup Conference, and here is where you can find us:
Monday, December 8: Start Up Site Visit
Platinum Pass members are invited to go on start-up site visits, including Pivotal Labs. We were one of the most popular site visits last year, and we open our doors again to share our culture, environment, and the basis for our Agile and Lean startup methods using our technology platforms. Learn more
Tuesday, December 9: Workshop: Lean Startup 101
Presenter Janice Fraser packs the day with hands-on activities designed for people in any role and any industry. Each will leave with an in-depth understanding of Lean Startup principles. Fraser is the author of the Lean Product Book, a leading expert on Lean Startup who has trained dozens of organizations, from Lyft to the White House, and presented at leading conferences and business schools like Kellogg and Haas, The full day session starts with the basics, covering key terms and concepts. She also explores why Lean Startup methods exist, when to use them, and the mechanics of learning from customers and testing ideas. Learn more
Wednesday, December 10: Presentation: Get Comfortable Shipping Imperfect Products
As a Product Manager at Pivotal Labs, Lauren Gilchrist has been building software and companies for 10 years. In this talk, she covers the tradeoffs between too much and too little empathy and explains five key tips for shipping less than perfect minimum viable products to help learn from end-users quickly. Learn more
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