Week Notes: Vol. 3 – № 7

Build products like an artist through thin slicing

I first heard about “thin slicing” at a previous consulting firm. A thin slice is a portion of end-to-end functionality that is both usable and as simple as possible.

It's somewhere between a proof of concept (POC) and a minimum viable product (MVP).

It's iterative. It's flexible. It leaves space to course correct based on research, testing, and changing priorities.

To explain the concept to clients, the firm I worked at created a slide showing the process of painting “The Starry Night” by Vincent van Gogh in two different ways.

One way: meticulously render every single element in exquisite detail one after another until the piece is finished.

The “better” way: sketch the composition, adjust, lay in broad colors, and work your way up to a high-fidelity masterpiece.

Later, I realized this visual rehashed (or maybe paid homage to) Jeff Patton’s take on iterative vs. incremental development, including his “Iterative Incremental Mona Lisa.”

Since I grew up drawing and studied art in college, this concept made sense.

But as a kid it was lost on me. The polished step-by-step examples in drawing books made getting from circles and boxes to a complete character seem so obvious.

I used to think artists channeled the divine, perfectly transferring what was in their mind’s eye to paper or canvas. The reality is they layer in detail.

When it comes to software, I sense many businesses are under the same assumption: that building a product is linear and obvious.

Yet Facebook began small, simple, and only at Harvard. Instagram was a complete pivot. Slack grew from a proprietary internal communications tool.

Thin slicing shows clients that polished outcomes begin rough. Like an artist, sketch the composition before committing to finer details.