We need systems like Five Whys to overcome our psychological limitations because we tend to overreact to what’s happening in the moment. We also tend to get frustrated if things happen that we did not anticipate.

We adopted the view that our job was to find a synthesis between our vision and what customers would accept; it wasn’t to capitulate to what customers thought they wanted or to tell customers what they ought to want. As we came to understand our customers better, we were able to improve our products.

You cannot be sure you really understand any part of any business problem unless you go and see for yourself firsthand.

You cannot be sure you really understand any part of any business problem unless you go and see for yourself firsthand.

Early adopters are suspicious of something that is too polished: if it’s ready for everyone to adopt, how much advantage can one get by being early?

The small-batch approach produces a finished product every few seconds, whereas the large-batch approach must deliver all the products at once, at the end.

For example, changing the definition of productivity for a team from functional excellence—excellence in marketing, sales, or product development—to validated learning will cause problems. As was indicated earlier, functional specialists are accustomed to measuring their efficiency by looking at the proportion of time they are busy doing their

The true test of the value hypothesis is always a voluntary exchange of value between customers and the startup that serves them.

success theater, using the appearance of growth to make it seem that they are successful.