In case you aren’t familiar with Occam’s Razor it basically states that simpler explanations are better than more complex explanations. All things being equal.
So what does this have to do with creating products for your business? The answer lies in simplicity.
Occam’s Razor for product creation would look something this: Given all the different functions that you can create for your product/service, choose the least amount of functions that get your customer to their desired result.
Keep it simple but effective.
I was reminded of this recently when we were talking with a client about a new product idea that we were launching together.
The cool thing about getting a few entrepreneurs together in the same room is that the ideas just start flying.
The not so cool thing about getting a few entrepreneurs together in the same room is that the ideas just start flying!
We hadn’t even launched the product yet and we were already at version 4.1 in the space of 30 minutes.
Working in the design and web development space for a few years helped me realize what was happening and I was able to bring everyone back to earth for a minute with a few development horror stories.
The real question for our group became, what’s the minimum that we need this product to do to get the desired result for our client?
It’s not that I want to be lazy, but I do want to create as little as possible in the first run of a product.
I need it to be simple.
Simple is less expensive.
Simple gets to the market quicker.
Simple takes less people and moving parts to create.
Simple is easier to beta test.
Simple allows us to upgrade the project in phases later with all the bells and whistles that we want to add.
Last but not least, simple gets us to profitability quicker.
If you have ideas for products or are in the middle of creating a product/service to sell, ask yourself what the simplest solution to solving your customer’s problem is? Then create your product around that. Simple wins.