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Why do we iterate?

Iteration is a way to improve on something you’ve created, done, or thought and is a great tool to use at work or in your personal life.

Without iteration, there is no change. Without change, things stay stagnant and people get complacent. It is about continuous improvement, trial and error, feedback, and revision—and is something we use both professionally and personally.

Iteration at work

You don’t have to be in design to understand how iteration plays into our professional lives. Whether you’re creating a business model, writing a research plan, or designing an app, the odds are that you’re iterating on that work before you share it with your manager or a client, or release it to customers via the app store.

I’m literally iterating—I’m “literating” right now as I write this week’s newsletter post. I can’t begin to count how frequently I get stuck on one section or SENTENCE. I’ll reorganize this at least three times before I tell myself “Enough, schedule it.”

There are many benefits to iterating. To name a few:

• Improved quality: Let’s be honest, we all know that the first version you created could use additional work.

• Efficiency: Maybe not on the first try, but we learn as we go. The more experience we have, the better the process will be.

• Adaptability: If you can get out of the mindset that something needs to be perfect before you share it, it becomes easier to plan for future versions (or iterations).

MVP: Minimum Viable Product

I feel like this term is used widely enough for most to be familiar, but I could be wrong because that’s what working in tech teaches you.

The term “Minimum Viable Product” or “MVP” for short, is used to describe a basic version of a product that includes just enough features to be used by early customers. Another way of putting it is that it is the simplest possible version of a program or service (or business plan or newsletter) you’re developing.

Putting your Product Design, Engineer, or other techie hat on, the purpose of releasing an MVP is to learn quickly without spending too much time and resources. Apps do this alllllllllll the time.

Real-life examples:

1. Slack, today’s corporate productivity behemoth aimed at taking down email, was born from a gaming startup called Tiny Speck that pivoted to enterprise software.

2. Facebook, a social media platform with approximately 12 users (fact check that, Zuck) was initially Facemash—a website used to rate the attractiveness of Harvard female students.

You get the point.

Personal iteration

Iteration shows up in our personal lives in the form of growth—a non-linear process of self-improvement through, reflection, discovery, and learning. It’s non-linear because…that’s right, ‘cause it’s a circle!

Have you ever tried to change your reaction to something, build a new habit, or learn a new skill? If so, you may have tried, and failed, and changed your approach, and maybe failed some more. Whether you succeeded in doing what you set out to do or not, that’s the personal iterative process I’m talking about.

A common thread between iteration in our personal and professional lives is feedback loops. A feedback loop is a system that uses the output of a process to modify or reinforce its input.

These show up in our lives in many ways, whether you’re. Maybe you’re a night owl who is trying to become an early bird but can’t seem to stop hitting the snooze button on your alarm. What steps could you take to become a morning person?

I admit, I am the night owl in the example who loves the idea of waking up early to go to the gym for a couple of reasons. First, if you’ve been following these posts, it puts me in the best mood. I always say that the gym is the hardest thing to get to, but I never feel bad when I’m leaving. Second, it gets it out of the way and I don’t have to spend my day thinking “Could I make it there in back for lunch?” (the answer is always no) or “Will traffic be annoying?” (it’s LA, the answer is always yes).

Things I’ve tried, and that you can try too, to iterate on my evolution to become a morning gym person success story:

• Untie my sneakers and put them by the door for easy access

• Lay out gym clothes in my closet for easy access

• Put any pre-workout or supplements on the counter for easy access

• Set the coffee maker to brew when I wake up for easy access

The key was to reduce any friction between me and leaving my house. For more on that, check out “Atomic Habits” by James Clear, it’s quite good.

After so much trying, I make it to the gym in the morning approximately zero times per week. Relax, this isn’t a story of failure. Well, technically it is, but the point is that there were still feedback loops in this process.

I tried each of these steps and once one failed, I added another into the mix. Then another, then another. Whether this worked in the end or not is irrelevant to the point of calling out feedback loops in our personal lives but is very relevant to the dignity I lose when I’m defeated by that son of a bitch snooze button. I thought about censoring that, let me know if I should have.

Common barriers

I can think of three barriers that might hinder your ability to want to iterate or grow.

1. Fear of failure: Nobody goes through life without failing. If they did, then they’ve failed at failing 😏. That doesn’t make it suck any less, but the more we put ourselves in situations where we might be uncomfortable or unsuccessful, the easier it will be to accept that failure is an option and it’s all good.

2. Slow progress: This one gets me, I hate slow progress. It’s the reason I struggled to create healthy saving habits until I started making money I was comfortable not using, and it’s the reason that I’m not a bodybuilder. I’m going to channel my inner Scott Galloway and say that if you think about your progress toward a goal like compound interest, then you know that making good decisions will lead to good decisions.

3. Complacency: Some people are fine where they are which I don’t think is an inherently bad thing. Like all things in life, you don’t “need” to act unless it becomes a problem for you. I used to think that this was due to a lack of motivation, but I’m not so sure anymore. Everyone is different and not everyone is always seeking what’s next.

In conclusion, embrace the growth

To grow, you have to want to grow. Tacky, I know, but change doesn’t happen if you don’t want it to. Cultivating a growth mindset takes time, curiosity, failure, and reflection. I understand the importance of celebrating small wins, so I’d like to push that to you also. Transparently, I struggle with identifying small wins as “wins” and instead I move the goalpost further and further.

On the professional side, the funny part about working in big tech is that while all of them preach iteration, I find that a small number of them follow through.

As always, thank you

I like writing and sharing my experiences, so thank you for taking the time to read through this. As always, you can find me on LinkedIn. Feel free to reach out with any questions, comments, or feedback as I look to write about relevant topics.