I wrote this as a reply to
Does Lean Startup Methodology Apply to Consumer Startups?" However, due to comment length restrictions on that blog, I am posting my comment here and welcome your thoughts.
"An enterprise will pilot products and iterate with a vendor: Let's run a 6 month consulting engagement/pilot to evaluate if this new database solves the problem."
Only an enterprise where there is a major disconnect between management and engineering will opt for this path. In enterprises where needed data I/O patterns are understood, taking such path may spell disaster.
The primary problem with the 'lean startup' methodology that I see is that it blindly preaches entrepreneurs to close their eyes, cut corners and just get the product to market without fully understanding the future scalability needs. Scalability doesn't has to be sacrificed in order to build a lean startup, except in those cases where there is no architect on board.
Many entrepreneurs think of taking route of frameworks in early days only to find out the haunting effects as growth happens.
Case studies exist where massive infrastructures with low latencies have been built without blowing budgets and need for re-architecting infrastructures. The concept of lean startups is great, but incomplete (especially as it is being preached).
When the right architects and team is on-board, building the right way also becomes the lean way.
Thanks for this post, really enjoyed it!
Frank Mashraqi
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