The Planning and Team videos line up with the "Make Plans" section of The Playbook http://playbook.thoughtbot.com/getting-started/, which will frame the discussion - but the videos don't cover everything in the printed book and vice-versa.
Some o...
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://thoughtbot.com/upcase/videos/week-1-planning
I get why landing pages are wasted effort after you already have a solution, but what about using landing pages to help you get to the solution? I know they’ve been used as a way to validate assumptions about the problem, propose a solution that you’re not sure of, and the mailing list you end up with is a potential source for customer interviews. Curious to hear thoughts on using landing pages in that way.
Hi Saron,
Yes, I think that is an important distinction which is missed in our previous teaching/opinion on this topic.
We are not opposed to putting a landing page online as a way to test ideas and determine traction and identify customers to interview.
However, we are opposed at announcing that you will have a product, putting an email collection box up, building your product and then some time later simply announcing to that collected list that you’ve launched. In that scenario, you could have just waited until launch and collected the same group of people.
We put some landing pages online now to test out ideas, but we do not launch them on our blog or even have our name on them. Instead, we drive traffic to them by buying ads, etc.
We also use http://fivesecondtest.com to test out effectiveness of the landing page and communication of concepts on it.
I hope that clarifies things/helps.
Yup! Makes total sense, thanks Chad : )