This is the presentation I gave at LESS2010 on 18th of Oct in 2010. The deck describes how we do lean product development and customer development and what are the current results.

1. Case Nextdoor
Marko Taipale

3. 1st promise: Predictability
2nd promise: Adaptability
(3rd promise: Continuous
Deployment)

4. I. What is a (lean) Startup?
II. Nextdoor.fi
III. How do we do it

5. I. What is a (lean) Startup?

6. “Startup is a human institution creating a
new product or service under
conditions of extreme uncertainty.”
- Eric Ries
It does not state size

8. Customer Development
Customer Customer Customer Scale
Discovery Validation Creation Company

9. Customer Development
Customer Customer Customer Scale
Discovery Validation Creation Company
Hypotheses,
Data, experiments,
feedback, insights
Insights Agile
Product
Development

10. Customer Development
Customer Customer Customer Scale
Discovery Validation Creation Company
Problem Team
Hypotheses,
Data, experiments,
Solution Team
feedback,
Insights
insights
Agile
Product
Development

11. Iterating the business model
- The Pivot
Business
Model
Strategy Iteration
Tactical
Agile
Customer Product
Development Development
Source: Ann Miura-Ko Maples Investments

12. Team vision and discipline over individuals
and interactions (or processes and tools)
Validated learning over working software (or
comprehensive documentation)
Customer discovery over customer
collaboration (or contract negotiation)
Initiating change over responding to change
(or following a plan)
http://www.justin.tv/startuplessonslearned#r=POlUU9I~&s=em

13. II. www.nextdoor.fi

14. Why?
Who?
What?

16. 120 man days / Beta
-70 functionalities
-50 User interface
(1. day = get some laptops)

19. 30 000 visitors / month
>2 000 active users
>500 open offer/request
3 days lead time

20. 1/day release to production
24/7 monitoring
1/day backups
1/day biz reports
5 integrations

21. 550+ acceptance tests
>80% test coverage
28 IE6 issues
2 bugs (in 3 years)

22. 0 people in operations
0 testers
0 full-time developers
Production bug fix < 1h

23. III. Our way

24. Themes Product READY
Queue MMFs
3
7 2
Theme Defining Regression
Features Development Deployment
Discovery READY Test
2h 2d 2d 6d 15min 1min

25. Themes Product READY
Queue MMFs
3
7 2
Theme Defining Regression
Features Development Deployment
Discovery READY Test
2h 2d 2d 6d 15min 1min
From READY to DONE 6 days
Dev time: From NOT STARTED to DONE 8 days
DWT: (PQ size * Dev Time) / capacity = (7 * 8) / 2 = 28 days

26. Problem team Solution team
Themes Product READY
Queue MMFs
3
7 2
Theme Defining Regression
Features Development Deployment
Discovery READY Test
2h 2d 2d 6d 15min 1min
From READY to DONE 6 days
Dev time: From NOT STARTED to DONE 8 days
DWT: (PQ size * Dev Time) / capacity = (7 * 8) / 2 = 28 days

27. Themes Product READY In Progress
Done
(3) Queue (2) (2)
(7)
TODO Done
X
Y
Z
SMART MMF Definition of Definition of Updated
goals Biz Value READY DONE metrics

28. Themes Product READY In Progress
Done
(3) Queue (2) (2)
(7)
TODO Done
X
Y
Z
SMART MMF Definition of Definition of Updated
goals Biz Value READY DONE metrics

29. Themes Product READY In Progress
Done
(3) Queue (2) (2)
(7)
TODO Done
X
Y
Z
SMART MMF Definition of Definition of Updated
goals Biz Value READY DONE metrics

30. PLAN!
Themes Product READY In Progress
Done
(3) Queue (2) (2)
(7)
TODO Done
X
Y
Z
SMART MMF Definition of Definition of Updated
goals Biz Value READY DONE metrics

31. Review!
Themes Product READY In Progress
Done
(3) Queue (2) (2)
(7)
TODO Done
X
Y
Z
SMART MMF Definition of Definition of Updated
goals Biz Value READY DONE metrics

32. Themes Product READY In Progress
Done
(3) Queue (2) (2)
(7)
TODO Done
X
Y
Z
SMART MMF Definition of Definition of Updated
goals Biz Value READY DONE metrics

33. Themes Product READY In Progress
Done
(3) Queue (2) (2)
(7)
TODO Done
X
Y STOP THE LINE
Z
SMART MMF Definition of Definition of Updated
goals Biz Value READY DONE metrics

34. Owner: Marko
Size: S
Comments for service offers and requests
5 days
QUEUE: 1.6.2010 DONE: 6.6.2010
READY: 3.6.2010
3 days

35. Nextdoor.fi Cumulative Flow Diagram (2009)
BL READY IP DONE
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

36. 1st promise: Predictability
2nd promise: Adaptability
(3rd promise: Continuous
Deployment)

37. Is your message about delivering
features as fast as possible?

38. Nr 1 waste =
Unused features
Building a feature
maybe the wrong
answer
Who cares about velocity?
We can work on highest priority story – who cares?

39. Philosophy
• Validated learning (over working software)
• Doing only things that match the demand
• Team vision and discipline
• Continuous improvement

40. Marko Taipale
@markotaipale
huitale.blogspot.com
marko.taipale@huitale.com
I help companies to improve by
showing what I have done
how I have done it and
what I have learned about it.
I am a CTO of a lean startup

41. Photo credits
Flickr users
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kodomut/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amagill/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/themarmot/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/unloveable/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shapourbahrami/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thatguyfromcchs0
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fxtreme/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aussiegall
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lululemonathletica
http://www.flickr.com/photos/4yas
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sualk61/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/can3ro55o/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jwdill/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/minidriver/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/donaldmacleod/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jburgin/