Light Bulb: The Iteration Cycle

With just one quarter of Josh Kaufman’s The Personal MBA under my belt, my confidence in myself as an entrepreneur has skyrocketed. I went into this book expecting it to be complex and overwhelming, but Kaufman’s lessons are just the opposite. They’re broken down to the bare fundamentals of business administration and presented so that each section builds upon the last. The Personal MBA is straightforward, full of great quotes from top influencers and makes the world of business feel completely approachable.

My favorite section thus far has been “The Iteration Cycle”. It knocked the wind right out of me, forcing me to rethink everything I thought I knew about running a business.

In short, the iteration cycle is the heartbeat of excellent product creation, but according to Kaufman, it can actually be used to “improve anything over time.” It’s a constant process. This requires extra effort, but if you’re aiming to create the best possible version of your product, it’s 110% worth it.

Kaufman’s approach to the iteration cycle is a method that he calls “WIGWAM“. The cycle’s six major steps are…

1. Watch – I have to watch my product to know how it’s performing. Is it working as I want it to/promised it would?
2. Ideate – What needs improvement? How can I make that improvement?
3. Guess – Based on what I’ve learned thus far, which of my ideas do I imagine will have the greatest impact on my product?
4. Which – Decide which idea to run with and which change to make.
5. Act – Actually make that change.
6. Measure – What kind of impact did my change make?

It’s important to note that without a goal for each iteration cycle, the value in the process decreases. Aimlessly altering my product doesn’t serve my loyal customers. It alienates them. This fact makes gathering valuable feedback essential to the iteration cycle. Click here to read more about this process.

Now comes the question of iteration velocity; how fast can I complete the cycle and start again?

In the case of the iteration cycle, faster does equal better. It isn’t meant to overhaul your business in a single, unpleasant tornado of change. Iterations are meant to be relatively small and based on what you already know about your product and its performance. Click here to read more about iteration velocity.

This is a broad concept and one that is still new to me, but it definitely flicked on a light bulb somewhere in my brain, so I wanted to share it with you. Whether or not you are entrepreneurially-minded, the iteration cycle exists to keep us all from becoming stagnant.