#446 – Keep It Scrappy

This week, we reviewed each other’s latest ideas for new areas of the software we want to build. What stands out to me is our lean approach to product iteration. Why do we work this way?

The simple reason: we want to avoid over-designing, over-developing, and getting too attached to ideas that customers may not find valuable. Instead, we aim to focus on our best ideas, leaving the rest on the drawing table. We invest just enough to see if an idea resonates, then move forward based on what we learn. Our goal is to align our product vision with the real needs of the people we serve.

Here are a few ways we keep our product iteration lean:

As a designer, I’ve spent too much time perfecting polished concepts, only to scrap them after team feedback. I’ve learned to share scrappier ideas more quickly, more often, so we can figure out where to iterate together. This approach lets us:

Let’s face it, much of what we build and ship gets replaced over time. At Parabol, this has been true for almost a decade. So why get precious about code or designs? What matters is refining strong ideas.

Lately, we’ve been working on a prototype (one that deserves a post of its own) to explore some next-level concepts. What this unlocks:

Tying it all together, we aim for minimal first versions. By keeping design concepts and prototypes scrappy, we’re better equipped to define the core of what we want to ship. We ask: what’s the smallest version that lets us validate the idea?

Here’s how we approach it:

This lean approach helps us ship and learn more often. We get working software in front of customers sooner. The more often we talk with them, the more we understand their problems. We take this learning back into our plans. We save time by discovering what works and what to throw out. And we keep moving forward.

We saw a slight increase in our activity this week! We excited to be so close to hitting 600k total Parabol users.

…submitted yet another Air Force SBIR proposal. This Direct to Phase II proposal includes levering insights from Parabol in critical, real-time workflows and communication use cases.

…iterated on our flexible meeting prototype. We’re designing a way to have 100% customizable meeting formats and workflows. We imagine folks can customize them from starting templates as they go, or build them entirely from scratch.

…readied our Pages feature for beta. This feature allows users the ability to capture knowledge and insights from meeting activities and organize this data as they need. We’re testing behind a feature flag.

…wrapped up Shape-Up Cycle 8. This cycle we have been focused on delivering more insightful reporting for customers, adding background music options to meetings, and shaping our latest ideas for flexible meetings and knowledge management. We’ve also made a number of UX improvements and bug fixes.

…start our cool-down period between cycles. During this time we process what we’ve learned, review customer feedback, and propose what we work on next.