Before we delve deeply into the topic it is important to give a quick definition of the concept. For simplicity's sake, I will define lean development as: doing things quickly in a non perfect manner in order to have a semi-finished product on which you can iterate. OK, that definition itself is quite non perfect and semi-finished.
The idea is not to spend three months working on a product LAUNCH. The idea is to spend two hours working on a product launch, and then the next two hours working on the second iteration, etc. etc.
The question becomes: if lean development is so great why don't most people use it?
Lean Development (whether software, startup, etc.) runs against the grain of every possible social standard. After all, since age 5 we are trained to study months in order to perform perfectly on one valuation. Of course, this system has failed, but it is the status quo with which we must contend.
The truth is: being a lean developer, entrepreneur, etc takes a lot of chutzpah. For those in the corporate world, imagine presenting a solution to your team and saying: OK, well this is about 60% right and there are major grammatical problems in this proposal but it is a step in the right direction.
While this sounds like a ridiculous proposal, this is precisely the basic tenant of lean development.
The reason lean development works is because it creates momentum and progress. As an example, yesterday I wrote a two page white paper for my new advisory shop Early Stage Exits. I started this process by laying out a bunch of facts and concepts. 71 version later (in one day) I had a product that was pretty darn good (if I can say so myself).
The enemy of lean development is perfection. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with perfectionism. In fact, if it was an effective system this blog would be called the enemy of perfectionism and I would talk about why lean development is ineffective.
However, perfectionism doesn't work. Yes, there are people that put out a seemingly perfect product. However, if one was to follow their work he/she would see that they started with a rough product and went through constant iterations in order to improve.
Specifically, the enemy of lean development are those who are dogmatic about perfectionism. Without being too judgmental, I would challenge you to look at the results (the product) of these individual's dogmatic beliefs and to contrast that against the results of those who develop iteratively. What you will soon find, in 99% of the cases, is that those who develop iteratively run circles around those who strive for perfection.
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