We’ve talked a lot about the strategic importance of the different steps in the product development and validation process. Today, let’s take a look at something a bit more tactical – our Design Record.
There are many ways to describe the Design Record, so let’s try to capture the definition that means the most to a business owner.
The Design Record allows you to get your product built and shipped – without “tribal knowledge”!
If you’ve ever been in an early stage product business, you already know how easy it is to leave important details about your product floating around in the heads of your team. Everyone on the team is good at what they do, they know the product inside and out, so there’s little need to write anything down.
This works OK for a while, but quickly becomes a bottleneck to profitability.
Jim’s out for the week? All of a sudden something critical slips through the cracks.
Need to scale up production? Now we have to get Mary to show the new team members what she knows.
You see where this is going, right?
What if we do all the same things, with the same great team, but instead of leaving it in our heads, we practice the discipline of writing it down?
Sounds like a game changer to me!
-Brian Schoolcraft