Being agile means being sure
Don’t launch to learn—learn before you launch
“Move fast and break things” is a mantra in some companies. This obsession with launching quickly fosters a delivery-at-all-costs culture. It assumes that putting something into the market and “seeing what happens” is a valid way to test ideas.
But what happens when you launch without validating first? That’s when breaking things gets expensive. Because launching consumes time, resources—and most importantly—credibility. If you get it wrong, you don’t just lose users. You lose their trust.
That’s why it’s crucial not to confuse agility with speed. True agility isn’t about launching faster. It’s about building with more certainty. Instead of building in the hope that someone might need it, it’s far more agile to validate whether the idea solves a real, urgent, and shared problem.
Many organizations still believe that to validate, you have to launch. But that’s not always true. Delivery without discovery is a very expensive way to learn. Aren’t there thousands of ways to validate a need without launching a product?
So, how can you do it?
Explore the problem: Before thinking about a solution, understand the root of the problem. Talk to real users. Conduct open-ended interviews. Listen without bias.
Define hypotheses: Don’t try to confirm your ideas—try to challenge them.
Test solutions: Use a slide deck, a prototype, a user flow, or a simple design.
In the end, learning doesn’t always require launching a product. It requires conversations, hypotheses, and experiments. And that’s a far more agile way to build.