Built to leave the lab.

The five steps

1. 1

   Step 1 of 5

   Define what working means

   Working gets defined first: what the product has to do, where it will run and how anyone will know. Numbers carry a unit and a condition from the start.

   We agree the pass criteria with you in writing before we build, and test where the product will be used.

   We need

   The people who will use it, and the conditions it has to survive.

2. 2

   Step 2 of 5

   Prototype the riskiest part first

   Find the part most likely to fail, whether that is a motor, a model, a protocol or a market, and build that first. If it is going to fail, it should fail early and cheaply.

   We need

   Access to the hardest case: the line, the site or the data.

3. 3

   Step 3 of 5

   Test it where it will live, and share the log

   The test that counts is on the floor, the road or the bench where it will run, not only in the lab.

   Pass criteria agreed before we build, then the log, including what failed.

   We need

   Time on site, and someone who knows the place.

   Clips from our own log

4. 4

   Step 4 of 5

   Deploy and hand over the files

   It goes into service. The handover checklist lists what any supplier should give you at this point.

   Source code, firmware, design files, bills of materials and credentials, handed over at the end.

   We need

   Where the files should go, and who should own each account.

   The handover checklist

5. 5

   Step 5 of 5

   Launch, measure and improve

   Customers arrive, the numbers come in, and we act on them. Growth is measured against the number your business counts.

   We need

   The number that matters to you, agreed at the start.

6. Output

   Y = 1. It works, and customers are using it.