However, we should not be optimizing for the rate at which we declare things “done” in isolation on a branch. We should optimize for the overall lead time — the time it takes us to deliver valuable software to users. Optimizing for “dev complete” time is precisely what causes “integration hell.” A painful and unpredictable “last mile” of integratio

A fundamental point with new initiatives is preserving cash and iterating rapidly while teams are testing hypotheses to identify a repeatable solution. Once those fundamentals are understood, and we achieve a product/market fit, cash preservation becomes less important than spending and we can begin to create a scaleable solution.

Making demos is hard. It involves overcoming apprehensions about committing time and effort to an idea that you aren’t sure is right. At Apple, we then had to expose that idea and demo to the scrutiny of sharp-eyed colleagues who were never afraid to level pointed criticism.

• E


• veryone sets out to do that, but they don’t create processes that result in that


• They rush things into the marketplace


• They don’t take the time


• They get impatient


• They don’t manage the creative community well


• No risk in new ideas that sound odd but could be great


• They don’t know how to process failure in creativity


• One of the things that Bob sees today i