Lean & Agile: What Publishing can Learn from Startups

Rachel Willmer

rachel@luzme.com

Why Learn From Us?

© http://www.flickr.com/photos/scriptingnews/

The Waterfall Model

© Paulsmith99 at en.wikipedia

Why Doesn’t Waterfall Work?• Requires perfect knowledge at every

stage

• Assumes perfect consistency

• Works for Engineering projects

• Inefficient model for Software

projects

• Mistakes are expensive

The Agile Manifesto, 2001

• http://agilemanifesto.org/

• KEY POINTS:

– Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and

continuous delivery of valuable software

– Welcome changing requirements, even late in development...

– Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a

couple of months ...

– Simplicity, the art of maximizing the amount of work not done, is

essential

– And others….

What This Means in Practice

• Have a long-term Big Idea

• Plan only short-term work plans, a “sprint”

• Continuously engage with customers

• Be very willing to change everything as you

learn

• Change != Failure

• Change at an early stage = cheap

It’s a marathon, not a sprint

© http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwarby/4782201357

Disruptive Technologies• *Significantly* lower prices

• Lower Margins

• Less Functionality/Performance

• “Innovator’s Dilemma” - Clayton M.

Christensen

Less Functionality?!?“Competing against Non-Consumption”

http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2011/12/22/the-amazing-power-of-deflationary-economics-for-startups/

Examples

• TV&Hollywood -- YouTube

• Daily Newspapers – Twitter, Feedly,

Zite

• Photos&Film - iPhone

The Lean Startup, 2011

• Term coined by Eric Ries, based on earlier work done

by Steve Blank

• KEY POINTS:

– Product/Market Fit

– Minimum viable product

– Continuous deployment

– Split testing

– Actionable metrics

– Pivot

Lean Links

• http://theleanstartup.com/

• http://runninglean.co/

• http://leananalyticsbook.com/

Fail Early, Fail Often, (Fail Cheap)

• “Fail” = “Try,Learn,Change” not “Failure”

• Mark Suster’s motto:

– “Good judgement comes from experience,

– But experience comes from bad judgement”

http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/

How to Fail Early

• Don’t Wait until it’s ready until you talk to your

customers

• Customer Discovery interviews

• Minimum Viable Products

• Verifiable Hypotheses

• Landing Pages

• Ask for money early!

Example 1: Tech Publishing

• O’Reilly Early Release

– http://oreilly.com

• Lean Pub

– http://leanpub.com

“Lean Publishing” the book

• https://leanpub.com/lean

• Coupon code: “EDINBURGH”

Example 2

• Luzme Translation service for writers

• Idea originated at CrimeFest a fortnight

ago

• Determined initial business model idea

• Landing pages will go live next week

• Then customer discovery

SUMMARY

• Fail early, fail often, fail cheap…

• Succeed sooner

• Have more fun!

• QUESTIONS?