Just a year ago, we at Habr loved large-scale tasks: long research, months of development, complex processes. But all this did not allow us to grow at the necessary speed. And here we are talking not so much about specific frameworks, but about the internals, corporate culture, vibes, if you will. We realized that we were missing the main thing – the speed of finding solutions.
If you are also tired of long development cycles, complex projects and bureaucracy, and growth hacking remains just a document in Confluence, this text is for you.
A bit of context
At the 2023-2024 strategy session, we discussed that we wanted to change the culture of Habr and came up with this expression – the culture buy phone number list of fails. We liked the meaning, but not the name, because it puts errors in the center. We decided to replace the culture of fails with the culture of fast search.
What are you, speed search culture?There is such an expression – fail fast, fail chip. It is often used in conjunction with lean and agile . It describes an approach to product development in which a company does not spend all its resources on one idea, but quickly tests many options.
A culture of rapid discovery is when, instead of believing wholeheartedly in one single idea and working on it for a long time, we quickly test sales on the rocks feat different hypotheses, discard the ones that don’t fit, and adjust course depending on the results.
Why is this?
To grow. Even failed hypotheses help find growth points. The more hypotheses are tested, the higher the chance of finding working solutions.
How it works in practice
- Ideation. An important part of the culture of rapid search. We are a small team, and hiring growth hackers is expensive. So, each department started monthly meetings to generate ideas. Everything was recorded in a table:
- Hypothesis
- Description
- Source of the idea
- Impact on metrics (forecast)
- How do we check?
- Who checks?
- Success Metric
How to Brainstorm Properly: Tips and Ideas
After evaluating the ideas, they went to work.
- Fast and cheap. Two important characteristics of an idea are the speed of testing ideas and their cost. We deliberately chose the cheapest marketing list testing methods. For example, instead of three months of developing a new feature, we tested it with mockups on a small group of users. The first months were frustrating. We were used to thinking in big projects. But over time, we adapted.
- Focus on metrics. Previously, we summed up the results once a quarter. Now — once a month. This helped us to understand more clearly which hypotheses work and which do not.
- Doubt? Test. There is no point in arguing about hypotheses. We have adopted a rule: if in doubt, it is better to test. Let the results of the experiments themselves move us forward.