Scientific Method

So what do those scientists do to solve a problem?  They're usually pretty good at doing that.  The Scientific Method has been around for years, and is well refined.  Here 'tis ... we can apply it to most any problem. 

1. Purpose ... what do you want to learn?
2. Research ... find out as much as you can!
3. Hypothesis ... try to predict the answer to the problem, an "educated guess" ... "If I (do something), then (this will occur)".
4. Experiment ... design a test or procedure to confirm of disprove your hypothesis.
5. Analysis ... record what happened during the experiment ... collect data.
6. Conclusion ... review the data and check to see if your hypothesis was correct
7. Iteration ... change what didn't work and test it again.

Refine ... Iterate ... Pivot

Creating something new and better is seldom a smooth start to finish process. More often it's a start, test, iterate, refine, re-start, re-test, re-iterate, get frustrated and quit!!

It starts with an idea, it always does! 

The first question, "Who cares? Are there any customers for our idea?" If the answer is "Yes, we think so ...", then move on to the next stage of development: a] create a business model that will fit our target customers and our idea; and b] develop our product and/or service in steps that can be tested and refine (agile engineering, it's called). 

If our first customers are happy with the results, find more and more customers and build up our venture. If our first customers aren't all that thrilled, iterate either our business model or our product/service, or both!

[Thank you, Steve Blank.]