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Product Development: Why “Google vs. Apple”? Why not “Google AND Apple”?
What the heck do I mean by “Apple” / “Google” when I speak about product development?
“Apple” means design for what you believe. Design from your gut with less of a need for data from iterations to guide your design decisions. You design for what you believe it is right, and in the process you might create or invent new markets.
“Google” means design minimally. Make small assumptions then release and see how people use it by collecting data. Then make further decisions based on the data.
I’m starting to think that in product development, at all levels of granularity (product level, feature level, UserStory level) there are opportunities to decide how a problem should be addressed based on the problem at hand. Rather than adopting a company culture of choosing “Apple” OR “Google”, why not adopt “Apple” AND “Google”. Use both approaches when it makes sense.
Both design approaches are valuable, both have their place. The challenge is knowing when to use which design pattern.
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