The Lean Startup methodology seems pretty simple at first sight. All you have to do, is follow the never ending Build-Measure-Learn loop and you'll be fine. But reality rarely matches our theoretical expectations. So here I will try to demystify this methodology by applying it to solve my own problem of having a simple Digital Bullet Journal.
Enter the loop
I will start my Lean Startup journey by building something. Here many would expect us to start building a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), but that is not necessary what I need right now.
What I will Build is a search query. I will search google for existing solutions to my problem. I will dig down into products being offered, and also into workarounds that people develop to achieve the same goal.
This search query will allow me to Measure, indirectly, if there is a potential market for the product I'm looking to build. The premise being that, if products and workarounds exist, it would indicate that people need it.
From my brief search I was able to Learn that there are not many products that solve this problem, and that people rely on working around with other products to achieve the goal of having a Digital Bullet Journal.
And that's it, I have completed my first Build-Measure-Learn loop.
Loop-the-loop
Having learned that people need this product, and more importantly that there are no simple solutions available, is time to go through the loop once again. This time I will Build a Proof of Concept (PoC).
The reason why I want to build a PoC is to prove to my self that this is in fact feasible. Also, I would like to have something simple that I can show others to get their feedback.
Having created this PoC I then proceeded to host it using Zeit so that I can share it with others, but at no cost for myself (bootstrapping). As I mentioned before, I want to gather feedback about this idea. In other words, I want to Measure and Learn if I'm in the right direction or if I need to adapt my approach (pivot).
Try it out
So here it is: DiBuJo
In its current form its a simple create-react-app with a basic wysiwyg using draftjs. It will store your journal entries in the localStorage. And it will allow you to create and edit entries.
Give it a go, and let me know what you think of it in the comments section!
Looking forward to going through more loops with you and apply this simple but powerful methodology.
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