

Consultants Don't Pivot, Founders Do - prosa
http://steveblank.com/2010/05/13/consultants-don%E2%80%99t-pivot-founders-do/

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alexyim
> “Great, but we’re having a bit of a problem getting traction.” (Anytime I
> hear an entrepreneur talking in euphemisms, I get nervous.)

Haha, I love that line. It's so true

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mkramlich
Exactly. If you're having problem getting traction it cannot be going great.

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peteforde
As a consultant that does understand customer development (unlike the example
which paints all contractors with the same brush) I feel like this Steve post
is based on iffy logic.

Our clients pay us to be highly opinionated; in fact, they hired us over the
other guy because we were willing to give them the straight goods even when
the news isn't good.

In a properly functioning founder-consultant relationship, it is the founder's
job to take all of the factors into consideration and pivot when appropriate.
The consultant has no business making this call; we can only inform and opine.

What we can and should do (as consultants) is help the founder exercise
control over the scope, thereby allowing the Blank-approved Minimum Viable
Product to actually be minimal.

In fact, we're in a better position to help scope growth than a
founder/developer, or someone working for a founder. We're emotionally more
removed (but still passionate) such that we can say no to features that
distract from the core value of the business proposition.

Pivoting is much harder when development strays from the minimum viable
product.

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petervandijck
Most product managers don't pivot either, unfortunately. Pivoting is even
harder than keeping things simple (which most product managers can't do,
either).

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idoh
Why the random dig on product managers? Most [fill in the blank]s don't pivot
either.

I think it really comes down to the organization's culture and the executive
leadership. PMs will often be asked to create a roadmap, and then that roadmap
gets approved, and then features get executed against that. If that is the
structure then it is hard for _anyone_ to pivot.

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tptacek
(Speaking as a PM) --- because it's the PM's job to pivot.

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idoh
Not disputing that but sometimes the org around a PM just won't allow for it.

