Book Notes - 'Building the Right Product'

I noticed a lot of people in our circle reading this book and sharing notes, so I found some time to go through it myself as well.

As an indie developer, books like ‘Building the Right Product’ easily catch my interest. Who doesn’t want to build the right product?

Unfortunately, I personally think the book doesn’t have much to offer. It’s light on content and better suited for a quick read. The main reason is that in the age of AI, the viewpoints and methods presented are quite outdated. It’s not just this book; I feel many books about processes and methods, like the software from those days, are destined to be outdated. On the other hand, books leaning towards history and theoretical research have some longevity and can withstand the passage of time.

However, there are still a few points in this book that I found valuable.

Firstly, it repeatedly drums in the basic notion that most products, most of the time, will fail. It’s a cold splash of reality—harsh, but that’s reality. This splash isn’t entirely negative, though. It prepared me mentally, making me realize that succeeding isn’t easy; failure is more the norm. What I need to do is keep trying, again and again.

“Keep trying again and again” is something Zhang Xue often says. I really like Zhang Xue and his heartfelt words. For example, “If you don’t do something when you’re young, you’ll definitely regret it when you’re old. Even if you fail, at least you won’t feel regret.” (This line partly inspired me to start indie development.) Another one is, “If I don’t have others’ talents and resources but I work ten times harder than them, why can’t the result be mine? It will definitely be mine.”

In short, in product development, failure is the norm. Perseverance is needed.

Another concept that impressed me was the Pretotype. We usually know about prototypes, but the author presents the idea of a Pretotype.

So, what is a Pretotype?

The book translates it to “预型” in Chinese, meaning “pre-type.” It’s a step before “prototype.” In industrial design, a “prototype” is something basic that functions, while a “pretype” is something that has form and feel but doesn’t perform any actual functions.

It mentions the founder of Palm, who, after a costly and heavy development failure, came up with the idea of a “pretype.” He wanted to develop a handheld phone, but the technology wasn’t mature. So he made a phone out of a block of wood that met his ideal dimensions, printed some realistic-looking interfaces, stuck them on the wood, and even used a chopstick as a stylus.

He carried this “pretype” everywhere, to meetings and with clients, using it to mimic tasks like ordering food or jotting things down. It looked odd, but this helped him immensely in eventually creating the product. This example really stuck with me.

The last reminder that’s quite valuable: after an MVP is released, it’s essential to put it out there, engage with real users, and gather data. This idea struck a chord with me.

In the past, I was hesitant about spending money on initial promotions, feeling that promoting in my social circle might be enough. But if you want genuine user feedback early on, doing some necessary promotion is indeed vital.

Overall, not much else in the book left an impression. It’s a book best suited for quick reading.