The Build-Measure-Learn Cycle

The build-measure-learn cycle is a core concept of product management and the broader practice of product development. Coined by Eric Ries and refined in his book The Lean Startup, the cycle emphasizes rapid experimentation and iteration as a way to validate ideas and improve the likelihood of success for the product.

The philosophy behind the build-measure-learn cycle is continuously testing and validating hypotheses about what customers want and, by extension, what will positively impact our desired outcomes. It's done by building a minimum viable product (MVP), a stripped-down version of the product that just enough features to test key assumptions and gather feedback. After the MVP is built, we collect data on how customers interact with it. The team then pulls insights from that feedback, learning from that data to inform the next iteration of the product.

This ideally helps show us user needs early in the process, along with potential feature candidates. It also helps inform work priorities by exposing the highest potential opportunities. It empowers a team to quickly and efficiently make changes to the product based on real-world data, instead of relying on assumptions and guesses.