Build the right thing first

πŸ”₯Thought#note/thought
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As the classic Product adage goes, "Build the right thing, THEN build it right." This is where many get it wrong, momentum can feel like progress when customers seem happy with new features. But if you're not moving the needle on the business (e.g. revenue, conversions, and success measures) then you're missing the mark. Unnecessary work avoided is better than unnecessary work completed.

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As you’ll see, many companies put a heavy emphasis on deliveryβ€” they focus on whether you shipped what you said you would on time and on budgetβ€” while under- investing in discovery, forgetting to assess if you built the right stuff.

The key to figuring out what to build is Problem Statement Clarification, find the problem that a user needs solved and is willing to pay for. There are many times that problems look and sound worth solving but are not, like The Problem of Misaligned Incentives.

Most startups or new products fail because of faulty assumptions. The best thing we can do is find them and conduct Assumption Testing as quickly as possible, ideally before they impact your roadmap.


πŸ“šReference Notes:

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KNOWLEDGE GARDEN β€” PRIVATE NOTE

This note is not part of Kyle's published work. His knowledge garden is large β€” most of it stays private, shared only in conversation. If you want to explore this idea further, reach out or schedule time.