“We can acquire knowledge from doing something incorrectly, but only if we can determine the cause of the error and correct it.” – Russell Ackoff Summary: It’s never too late to start applying five whys, even if you’re saddled with zillions of lines of legacy code. Just start asking why whenever you find a problem—you’ll [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Lean'
Five whys, Part 2: How to get started
November 17th, 2008 · 4 Comments · Lean
“For every dollar spent in failure, learn a dollar’s worth of lesson.” – Jesse Robbins, Amazon’s former Master of Disaster Summary: Get started with five whys by applying it to a specific team with a specific problem. Select a five whys master to conduct a post mortem with everyone who was involved in the problem. [...]
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Five whys, Part 1: The startup immune system
November 14th, 2008 · 4 Comments · Books, Lean
“When confronted with a problem, have you ever stopped and asked why five times?” – Taiichi Ohno Summary: Whenever you find a defect, ask why five times to discover the root cause of the problem. Then make corrections at every level of the analysis. By applying five whys whenever you find a defect, you will [...]
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Pivotal Tracker: The iPod of project management software
November 12th, 2008 · 30 Comments · Lean, Tools
“We are using Pivotal Tracker to manage all of our new web apps under development, this thing rocks.” – Ezra Zygmuntowicz, Founder, Engine Yard “It’s a relief to open Tracker at the start of the day and focus on the next most important task.” – Aaron Peckham, Founder, Urban Dictionary No matter what you’re using [...]
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"Agile methods and startup companies… go perfectly together."
November 6th, 2008 · 2 Comments · Case Studies, Lean
William Pietri left a great comment on Books for Entrepreneurs: Agile Software Development: “Great to see these approaches getting more attention in the startup world. I’ve been soaking in both agile methods and startup companies a long time, and I think they go perfectly together. They provide just enough structure to make everybody effective, without [...]
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Books for Entrepreneurs: Agile Software Development
November 4th, 2008 · 3 Comments · Books, Lean
“For heavens sake, if you haven’t gotten comfy with Agile techniques and thinking, get on it right now.” – Tim Bray, Editor of XML 1.0 Summary: Start learning how to be lean by reading Agile Software Development. It isn’t the cheapest book in the world but it’s one of the cheapest investments you will make [...]
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Lean startups find their moment
October 21st, 2008 · 14 Comments · Lean
“As an investor and board member, it’s comforting for me to see a team using lean development. It gives me transparency on product development and engineering. I even see it reflected in the way the company manages its business objectives and goals.” – Scott Raney, Redpoint Ventures Summary: “Lean” is the most capital-efficient way to [...]
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Startup Lessons Learned
October 3rd, 2008 · 3 Comments · Lean, Resources
Go read Eric Ries’ new blog: Startup Lessons Learned. He’s a Venture Advisor at KPCB and a co-founder, CTO, and VPE of IMVU. Eric blogs about one of my favorite topics: applying lean/agile to startups. Lean thinking is the number one thing you can do to make your startup more effective. His post on A [...]
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The Laws of Productivity
October 1st, 2008 · 8 Comments · Lean
The Laws of Productivity is a must-read presentation for startups that want to be more productive. Here’s a direct link to the pdf. And here’s my summary of the presentation: Individuals Work 40 hours a week. (Working more feels like you’re doing more, but you’re actually doing less.) Work below capacity (say 80%) during those [...]
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