Recently I’ve been reading the lean startup written by Eric Ries. It discusses how today’s entrepreneurs use continuous innovation to create radically successful businesses. The book has many real world examples of applying lean practises in management. His most interesting example being his work at IMVU. His team was trying to predict what the customers wanted before delivering their product to market. The product was a complete failure but this process taught them the true needs of their costumers. They were able to take what they learned and create a product that a potential customer would actually use and enjoy. This lead to their success.
I see parallels with this methodology and House M.D. This is a great show on Netflix. House uses his genius to diagnose rare and lethal diseases. In every episode his initial diagnosis is always wrong and the patient has a dramatic hit to their health. Just when you think House is a complete failure he uses what he has learned from the failed test and comes up with a new diagnosis. They do this process over and over until they can cure the patient. It seems to me that a start up is much like curing a patient. Often our first diagnosis is always wrong but what we learn for this is necessary when trying to find the right solution.
DEV 1337 