Entries by Richard Walton

Fail Fast: It Should Be Part Of Your Strategy

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At Micrex, we are big believers in the concept of “Fail Fast”. We have always talked about it with our customers – and what we have learned is that there are different interpretations of what “fail fast” means. From an engineering perspective, fail fast is about system safety and optimization. A system that is designed […]

Secrecy

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I am going to argue that as a group, product development professionals have a bias toward excessive secrecy. By nature, PD requires some degree of secrecy. It is obviously a poor idea to disclose all the details of your company’s strategy. Inventors by instinct keep their best ideas under wraps. After all, you are only […]

Just One More Feature – Please!

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Very often, when we are in the final stages of wrapping up a new product, we become so close to the task that we miss the big picture. The temptation to add one more feature or improvement is almost irresistible. This can also have huge negative consequences. During World War II my father served in […]

Luck

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When Napoleon was asked what kind of general he preferred, he said, “Just give me a lucky general”. While I am not a big believer in luck per se, this blog makes many references to luck. It is understood that invention is all about the unexpected occurrence. Having the insight to recognize these events and […]

The One Best Way (Part 6): Cowboy Coding

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Software development is hard. Whether it is combining incredible levels of creativity and complexity, or talking about the high rates of failure – the debate about software design and development techniques has a lot of relevance to other disciplines. We have already touched on the use of a grand design. This is sometimes referred to […]