Your new idea is, unsurprisingly, ⭐new⭐.
But in most cases, 80% of the effort is put into applying decidedly not new technologies.
Tech that’s been around for years or decades.
Tech that the major players in your industry are already good at.
What sets you apart is the new stuff. You’re agile, creative, and moving fast.
You have time to become an expert at your ⭐new⭐ stuff - who else is going to?
But do you have time to gain all the experience the big guys already have?
I’d wager you don’t!
If you can make a list of all the design work that needs to be done to get to your goal, you can begin sorting it along two axes:
Innovating <---> Implementing - Are you learning something new or applying something that’s known?
Proprietary <---> Commodity - Is this special to your business, or something anyone could use?
Here’s a suggestion for each quadrant:
Innovating and Proprietary - This is you. Learn it, own it.
Innovating and Commodity - This probably doesn’t exist 🙂
Implementing and Proprietary - Find someone with experience. Contract with them to get the job done, and give you the design record when you’re done.
Implementing and Commodity - Try to buy this as a product. If you can’t, find an existing supplier and approach them about a custom offering. Let them keep ownership of the design if it helps the deal go through.
How have you handled these decisions in the past? Do everything yourself? Outsource everything?
-Brian Schoolcraft
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