Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works (Lean Series)

I have read my fair share of books on starting a business. As an engineer, the "building the product" part is the easy part. What has always challenged me is the entire process. Eric Ries was correct in saying that many books and magazine articles paint a wonderful picture of overnight success. And in my own business challenges, I wonder why I am not having this overnight success that I read about all of the time. Finally I have the answer. The overnight success is a myth. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries changes the perceived paradigm of business. 9 out of 10 startups fail. I personally have been in startups that failed and put it down to a learning experience but still could not pin point exactly what was the cause of the failure. Why didn't people purchase the products/services that I was creating. Am also a fan of Seth Godin and he professes that we build the Wow! into the product as a strategy. But Ash Muraya gets real and for the first time I truly understand why I have failed in the past with the startups that I had been involved in. It was the process. We never got out of the building. We always built software in a vaccuum smugly thinking it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I have used the latter strategy and I can say from sheer experience it does not work. It all makes sense now. Seems a little obvious now. This book in itself is lean. It does NOT make the same point over and over again using example after example. Every part of the book is useful. In fact it may be more of a user manual on business than a book. It shows you realistic step by step methods of reducing the time that could be potentially wasted in turning an idea into a product/service. I have already started to use the strategies and it is making a huge difference in my work. I have been through a process of creating an MVP and testing it. The process has already saved me tons of time and to be honest, much heartache. Every time I think of a new product or service I always go back to Running Lean to ensure that I do not repeat past mistakes and to use it's methods once again. Thank you Ash Muraya. It's one of the best books in this genre I have ever read.

When I tore through Running Lean I kept thinking (warning: 40 something TV reference inbound) of the TV show Name That Tune. Yes, the book has plenty of the pre-requisites for something you tear through - well written in a direct and approachable voice, moves along at a good clip, plenty of pointed observations and examples to bring them to life, etc. But what I found most powerful was that in his delivery of the book, Ash is eating his own Lean dog food not just on content but on how he delivers that content. The result? A how-to that definitely punches above its weight. First, he shares the Lean-inspired principles at work in his business ventures, using the book as sort of an open bridge hand for us to watch as he plays. Table stakes for this kind of a tome yes, but done well. As important though, he's been able to convey these interesting Lean principles in a simpler, more graspable, practical and flexible way than I've encountered elsewhere. With the result being a really short walk between the ideas in his book and real word applications to the new venture I've been working on. And that's when you know you have a good resource for helping you actually do something differently...you're engaged by the thinking on the first run through, and returning often to try out bits and pieces on the real world questions you're wrestling around with... rather than just liking the ideas but feeling overwhelmed by the effort or rigidity of applying them to your situation. Definitely plenty of virtual thumb grease on this one from heavy use and more to come. And definitely helping me call the tune on plenty of decisions in the fewest notes possible.

While this book is geared towards the true start up (small team on a new idea), the concepts and tools discussed work just as well for entrepreneurs operating in larger firms. I work for a company with 1000 tech employees and over $1 Billion in annual revenue. Hardly your definition of a start up. However, all most all of the methodology espoused by the Lean Startup and the tools introduced in this book provide value in my day to day life. These books are a must read for any and all innovators, regardless of how big your company. Now, regarding this specific book: it provides an excellent extension of the concepts discussed in "The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries. I would definitely recommend starting there. This book takes presents the practical side of the Lean Startup Methodology. Where "The Lean Startup" is more on the what and why, this book provides concrete examples of how to bring these principles to life. It presents specific tools that can be used to practice these methods. Mr Maurya writes with an easy to read style. This is a quick read that does not fall short on content. I read this book on a 6" E-Ink kindle. The text in some of the images was very difficult to read. For that reason alone I am giving it 4 stars. Based purely on the content, the book is a 5 star.

I really liked this book. There's not a lot of fluff (which makes sense since it's a book on being lean), and it gives good examples and steps to help you apply the teachings. What it reminds me of is the Agile methodology because the main concept was about moving in smaller iterations, getting quicker feedback, and adjusting accordingly. In terms of business and start-ups, the underlying theme to me was that you should try not to assume that you're correct - instead create small tests where you roll out an idea in small increments and test them before advancing. In some respect, it sounds like so much common sense, but how often do we fail to do this. Old school business involves creating grandiose business plans that are complete and researched/analyzed using a ton of time. However, encapsulated within that is a lot of assumptions. How do you know such and such will happen? How do you know that customer feedback won't take you in a completely different direction? How can you possibly plan for that alternate direction if you haven't received enough feedback yet? It's difficult predict what people will value, and how much they will value it until they actually have to pay for it (or at least use it). So how do you get to the point where you know exactly how much a customer will value your product/service with the least amount of waste? Are you being flexible enough to allow a 180 degree turn if you find that the customer will value something else than you originally planned for (and that you have the expertise to do)? One important point Maurya makes early on is that money is not the only form of waste. Just as important are things like your time and energy. Why spend time and energy on things that won't add value? The book gives you steps on how to incrementally roll out your idea and constantly test it as you go, down to the level of who you should be getting feedback from, how much time to spend interviewing them, and what questions to ask them.

Ash Maurya is a driving force in the Lean Startup movement. I'm using his Lean Canvas extensively and I follow closely his fantastic blog posts. Unlike the other big names in the field, like Steve Blank, Eric Ries, and Alexander Osterwalder, Ash Maurya's focus is on the practical (how-to) application of the Lean Startup concepts. The Four Steps to the Epiphany, The Lean Startup, and Business Model Generation are fantastic must-read books, but if you want a great tutorial on how to start applying the Lean Startup principles in practice, Running Lean is the book you need. It can even be very easily your introduction to the Lean Startup if you don't have time or knack for getting deeper into the theory. The best Lean Startup book for practitioners. I also recommend following Ash Maurya's fantastic blog posts as, among other things, they provide updates to some of the practices described in Running Lean. Remember that the this is an evolving framework, and Ash Maurya does a great job sharing (through his blog posts) all the latest learning he acquires from real-world projects. And if you are looking for progress/success metrics that match the Lean framework, I'd highly recommend reading "Lean Analytics" by Alistair Croll and Benjamin Yoskovitz. "Running Lean" and "Lean Analytics" are the two books that every product manager and every startup founder need to master the practice of Lean Startup.

The Agile/Lean startup movement has now been 'discovered' by the mainstream press. Check out the special section in this week's Economist*. So prepare for more hype and ever more books on Lean startups. But having read many of the existing ones, I highly recommend this book of Ash's for anyone working through those very early days when you have to figure out if your 'great idea' has any chance of blooming into the viable business model that is the true product of a startup. Ash has a workable, light-enough framework for organizing your thoughts into a one page plan, rigorously testing your riskiest assumptions, and, often, getting to No soon enough that you can still afford to iterate on to a variation or just move on to your next big idea. Readable, actionable, down-to-earth, worth the money. ag * I had a hyperlink in the original review text but, apparently, those aren't allowed. To see the special section, you can browse your way on over to Economist dot com and put 'tech startups' into their internal search field. Look for a link with the work Cambrian in it.

Part of the LEAN series which started with The Lean Start-up. This is the workbook for the The Lean Start-up and more. Lean development rose out of the AGILE camp and remains a major POV for the technology development sector. My interest comes from experience with companies that start into AGILE but, fail to implement it in their management structure/style. This LEAN series is a good way to start on changing how to manage companies who are innovators. A very few folks are writing about adopting AGILE techniques in sales and marketing , but it will come. A few key bullets for me from this very clear and well written book. Build only the Minimum Value Product - always testing customer response. Look for Minimum Marketing Features (what customers value - and you would write up) Use Kanban charts ( from The Toyota Way ) to organize and constrain workflow Done = validated with learning from customers Measure product marketing fit all the time. On Freemium (he is not a fan) : Delays learning about what price buyers will pay Low or no conversion - give away too much Lengthens validation cycle Shift focus to wrong metric - signups vs retention Low signal to noise ration - what is important feedback Free users are not free - account for free users as a marketing expense Mailchimp started with a paid version and after much time backed into a free one. Users should easily outgrow a free plan. This is LinkedIn's issue. IMHO. Buy this book and The Lean Startup. Thanks O'Reilly

I am giving this book 5 stars because the author believes deeply in what he is depicting, meticulously goes into the details outlining goals and actions clearly. It seems that not many books of this genre have such a strong practical focus. That's a good point that anecdotes come even before the data (the "Do more faster" by Brad Feld and David Cohen). But all know that often books about startups and for startups bear solely inspirational role, impart a new collective wisdom (of course, also required). This one is another kind, aimed at giving a process of departing from zero, then bootstrapping, and guiding through to the point/quality when you already exist and in a strong position to grow further efficiently, with concrete tools, techniques, and options. The author compiled the famous "Lean Startup" method by Eric Ries into an easily consumable form allowing skimming, combined it with an altered not less famous "Business Model Generation"'s canvas tactics, mixing in all well known things in an organic way. At that, this is not just a book [product]. It is an already big and growing infrastructure, - workshops, community [meaning, service] created following the approach. It is a case study in itself, an opportunity to learn for the readers, and for the author. In the book I found places where I went in cycles and some parts of the concepts seemed to me not fitting seamlessly. People from industries other than S/W may experience difficulties deciding whether the approach is suitable for their case. The same about complex S/W products. However, after having read one would agree this all makes sense to a significant extent, being a fresh POW. And the last note: it's wise not to do a mistake of following the recipes to the letter, - a process combined with curiosity, individual spirit and variety is what gives a matchless taste to what we produce. Times change, world change and approaches do (by us).