Product Development

Product Development is a process that is never finished. It is a constant dance between users and the people tweaking the solution. The product/service offered can be a slight change or a completely new way of getting the desired result. It can even be a new result that hadn’t been thought of. Or simply rolling out best practice. Seeing how a problem is solved elsewhere and introducing it to a new community in a way they recognise. This requires a deep understanding of the community being served and an ability to observe and listen. It requires awareness of the alternative solutions being offered. What are the challenges a community is facing? Who are the decision makers in that community? How can you help them? What resources would you need to do that. Product Development also involves identifying the skills, knowledge, and resource gaps you might have. That isn’t the end. Once you know the gaps, you can fill them. Product Development isn’t about you, it is about the people being served.

Weaver - Van Gogh (1884)

Stealing from Friends of Friends

A Ponzi Scheme is when the money you pay to join gets paid to someone who is already in the scheme. The promise is that you will then get paid by new recruits. Normally a multiple of the amount you initially paid. It seems like magic. Because it is. If you cut out the noise, you are effectively stealing money from each person you recruit. But they then recruit others so it “cancels out”. When new recruits run dry, and they will run dry, the last people to enter are the final losers. So instead of stealing from your friend, you are stealing from a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend. The layers make you feel better. A Ponzi Scheme is wealth extraction. Typically from the vulnerable. Perpetrated by well meaning believers. The way to spot a Ponzi Scheme is to look at the Fundamentals. How is money being made? What real problem is being solved? What real Win-Win wealth creation is going on? If you can’t answer that, then it is Win-Lose wealth extraction. Then the “product” is other people’s money.

Be wary of layers