Oil and Water: Mobile Apps and Fast Iteration
by Brent Hurley (blog: http://www.brenthurley.com/) It goes without saying that data-driven iteration is a tigerblood of sorts for tech startups these days. The ability to quickly and cheaply run and test multiple iterations of websites has helped companies accelerate towards the elusive product-market fit, as well as introduce data-supported enhancements and optimizations for more fully-baked products. The doctrine has been to launch early, launch often, test, rinse, and repeat. Getting your product out into the wild quickly enables real feedback from real users, to either confirm or deny initial product intuitions before significant investments in time and money are made. On the web, this practice is pretty much a given. Far better to launch a rough sketch of your product quickly than to sit in a vacuum and develop what you consider the “perfect” product only to find out the world doesn’t think your baby is as cute as you do. However, today’s burgeon...