Why all the startup / product management methods don’t work (for you)

Probably the problem is not the method, it’s you and your idea. They’re just not good enough.

You read about a new book / article and get fascinated. You are starving to apply it to your project. But when you start to do so, it just ends up with mediocre results which don’t improve your status quo as much as hoped. I believe this is a very typical situation and I’ve been through that too. So, what’s wrong? Probably there is nothing wrong with the method (sure there’re better and worse ones), the same as there is nothing wrong with most diet books. They just don’t work all the time.

All these lean startup and management method are based on observation, not on testing several theories in a controlled environment. What you learn from observation are correlations but you might not see the real reason behind it. Phil Rosenzweig described it as the “halo effect” years ago. So probably most businesses which used one of those methods and have been successful, would also have been successful without them. But what about those who try and fail? Nobody talks about them! I strongly believe they fail because of the foundation: the people and the basic idea behind it. That sounds harder than it is. It’s not a problem. Just the way it is. But improving here is not easy. You need endurance.

Here are my suggestions to crack the code:

• Solve tier one problems. Don’t try to find solutions for nice to have things. Better to spend your time on finding a problem worse solving than finding a solution for non-existing market.
• Dig deeper! You think you already know a lot about your customers and their behavior? Probably you actually don’t. So keep digging and learning!
• Keep trying new methods, it’s training for your mind and helps you to think out of the box; but never expect that it will be easy. It’s always hard work!
• Get new, smart people in. Better: People who are smarter than you!
• Be ready to kill your idea. Often we stick to long to mediocre ideas and waste our rare time. The most difficult part is not to kill your ideas too early. I try to ask myself if I dug deep enough and if I learned as much as possible to understand the customer problem. If this is the case and the idea is still mediocre, then’s time to move on.

Eventually it’s about being critical of oneself and being able to work hard to get better. Now go play!