Tech Leaderism

Startup Productivity

"Startup productivity is not about cranking out more widgets or features. It is about aligning our efforts with a business and product that are working to create value and drive growth.” Eric Ries - The Lean Startup

In traditional companies, productivity is often measured by output, how many features are built, lines of code written, or products shipped. But Ries is arguing that for startups, this kind of raw output doesn't necessarily mean progress.

Startups operate under extreme uncertainty, so building a feature that nobody uses, or improving a product that doesn't solve a real problem, is a waste of time and money, even if the team was “productive" in a traditional sense.

Before building something, ask:

- Does this help us validate a hypothesis?

- Will it improve the customer experience in a meaningful way?

- Is it aligned with what's actually driving traction?

If the answer is no, it might be productive activity, but not productive progress.