The moment I first learned about lean working principles, I was enthusiastic about them. Agile development applies some lean software development principles and shares many similarities with them. As with anything, if something is simple, easy to understand, straightforward to put into practice, and grounded in common sense, it is bound to succeed. Still, I am surprised that many of these principles are completely unknown to software developers and entrepreneurs of all kinds.
The Programmer’s Black Book was written using some lean principles, and completing it (at the time of writing, it is being edited) was possible because of this methodology.
Put very, very simply, the lean approach to developing a new entrepreneurial project says we shouldn’t wait until the end to find out whether it will succeed. How can I find out whether a brilliant idea I’ve had can become a commercial success? One mistake many entrepreneurs make is to pour all their effort, time, and money into finishing something completely before launching it, then wait (and pray) to see whether it is well received or not. Sometimes, by the time they finish, so much time has passed that other ideas have overtaken their brilliant idea in the market. Or they polish and refine the project so much that they suffer from analysis paralysis.
One of the fascinating stories Eric Ries tells in The Lean Startup is about the founder of Groupon, now a multinational operating in many countries and offering a marketplace for discount coupons. He certainly didn’t build all of Groupon’s current infrastructure before getting started. Instead, he began very modestly, testing the concept with family and friends, then continuously improving and shaping it into a business based on the response. He turned a simple, practical, inexpensive-to-test idea into a global company.
In the same way, I shared chapter updates from The Programmer’s Black Book to get feedback and see how much interest a project like this might generate. Isn’t that just like software, where we show a client how user stories are being implemented so we can refine the requirements and their understanding of what they want and need?
Fortunately, from the very first chapters, The Programmer’s Black Book generated enough interest to keep me going. That interest came in the form of encouraging emails, messages pointing out typos, suggestions for new chapters, corrections, different points of view, help reviewing grammar and spelling (thank you, Luis), and, most gratifying of all, questions like, “When and how can I get the book?”
The lean method not only helps you gauge interest in an idea or project, but also lets you improve and refine it by choosing whether to pivot or persevere.
We’re learning to do things differently and to launch projects using different approaches; writing a book can be approached the same way.