Rocket engineering, not rocket science

We are a product company that builds what customers love. A scientific method is an invaluable tool to design better things, but the science itself is rarely the point. We keep the product and the customer in mind.

Porridge Beta

Back to the universal principles

Calibration

Under, just right, over.

SituationUnderJust RightOver
An elegant methodFalls in love with the method and does not check whether the customer can feel the result.Uses the method only as far as it makes the product better, and stops there.Drops a method that is working because it is not interesting anymore.
The experiment becomes the pointExtends the study after it has already answered the product question.Ends the study when the product decision is clear, and writes down the decision.Skips the study and guesses, then calls the guess customer love.
A review of the methodSpends the review on the technique and never asks what the user will do.Starts from the user's job and lets the method defend itself only where it changes that job.Bans the method because it looks like research, even where it is the right tool.
Science in service of the productTreats rigor as a distraction from shipping.Uses the rigor to choose a design the customer will love, then ships that design.Ships the research notes instead of the product change.
Keeping the customer in the roomDebates the model after the customer's pain is already obvious.Names the customer pain, then picks the smallest rigorous step that would address it.Quotes the customer and skips the thinking that would turn the quote into a product.
A shortcut that hurts the productTakes a sloppy shortcut and hopes the customer will not notice.Takes a shortcut only if the product the customer touches still holds up.Refuses every shortcut, including one that would get a better product to them sooner.

Further reading

Sources and essays on this principle.

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