Baby Steps… A Lesson In Iteration
A Groundbreaking Blog For Every Organization That Wants To Lead a Controllable, Livable Life
Multi-phobic personality characterized by acute separation anxiety — diagnosis of Bob Wiley by Dr. Leo Marvin
Many businesses seem to have much to fear, resulting in strong organizational anxiety. They are effectively Bob Wiley, the lead character of What about Bob? portrayed by Bill Murray. Unlike many businesses and their issues, What about Bob? is a comedy.
As the story goes, the movie Bob is fortunate enough to be referred to one Dr. Leo Marvin. Dr. Leo is an eminent psychiatrist and groundbreaking author of the book Baby Steps. While business Bobs may not have their own Dr. Leo or his shiny yellow book, they can still benefit from iteration.
Iteration originates from the Latin iteratio— do again, repeat. However, since the 1950s, the definition includes with results successively closer to an ideal or goal. Or Baby Steps…
Iteration is a guide to success — One step at a time…
Publicly traded companies, mega-corporations, the Fortune 500, and the money houses of Wall Street all struggle with iteration. They set big goals, make big promises, use big data, sometimes big government and subsequently believe very strongly in Go Big or Go Home. To them, iteration is unimpressive.
These companies lack patience. In a world, where feedback flows faster and easier than ever before, big plans and big thinking can be a huge disadvantage. If planning is too rigid, if promises are too grand, and if they are not taking advantage of the information economy; opportunities and feedback will be lost.
Remember iteration is done in pursuit of goals and ideals. You can dream big, but success is more likely if you iterate one baby step at a time.
Where has iteration proved successful?
Silicon Valley is one of the best places to find case studies on iteration. For years, Google has been known for the mantra — Launch and Iterate. Steve Jobs stated often that the key to design was iteration. Pixar too was well known for its cycles of iteration. And more recently, Mark Zuckerburg talks about the Hacker way, a process of iteration.
It is adopted for design but discarded for management
Do a search on Iterative Design and Iterative Development, you will find a treasure trove of information and testimonials. Now do a search on Iterative Management. After a half-dozen results that make you wonder if you hit enter too early, among the chirping crickets at the bottom of the page, you will find… an IBM result for Iterative Development. Groan…
Start-ups, entrepreneurs, and development shops around the globe love iteration. It drives their early successes. It brings great products to market. It dominates market share. And then it fades…
Iterative startups use Baby Steps, until they grow into publicly traded bureaucracies. But soon the brilliance of those teenage years begins to fade. The product pipeline starts to weaken with age. So these adult companies acquire a family, transforming into mega-conglomerates. Like all families, eventually, the conglomerate starts to break apart.
Baby Steps may have saved them their fate. Iterative management processes may have sustained the life of the company. But once the bureaucrats have entered the building, the prospect of turning back grows slim. The iterative leaders of the company quickly take a page from Dr. Leo Marvin. They take a vacation…
How does it end?
At the end of What About Bob?, Dr. Leo (like our conglomerates) has forgotten his winning methods. He fears the Baby Stepping Bob is destroying his family. He fears for his reputation. He fears he is just not exciting anymore. With so many fears, Dr Leo begins to suffer massive anxiety. He ignores the Baby Step advise of his former patient and turns to a more extreme form of therapy…
[Leo has a rifle pointed at Bob]
Bob Wiley: What are we doing?
Dr. Leo Marvin: Death Therapy, Bob. It’s a guaranteed cure.
Originally published at www.linkedin.com.
Quintessentially is an article format created by Corsair’s Institute to increase the reader’s comprehension of key concepts in a quick and engaging fashion. For more articles from Iteration, Quintessentially — click here.
