– Validate the Target
- Invalidate Assumptions: Bad intel kills products and wastes runway. Validate every assumption with hard data.
- Identify the Attack Vector: Find the competitor's architectural flaw, the broken UX, the unserved market. Focus all firepower there.
- Define the Battlefield: Map the entire ecosystem. Understand the terrain before you deploy a single engineer.
– Set the Terms of Engagement
- Define the Kill Switch: Establish the mission-fail metrics upfront. Hesitation burns cash and morale.
- Issue Clear Directives: Ambiguous goals guarantee execution failure. Ensure every team member knows the objective and the 'why.'
- Command Owns the Call: Absorb pressure. Make the hard decisions on features, tech debt, and shipping. Take the heat.
– Control the System
- Own the Entire Value Chain: Your product is the full stack—from API performance to the support ticket. A weak link breaks it all.
- Secure Critical Dependencies: Treat third-party APIs and platforms as active threats. Architect for their inevitable failure.
- Game Theory the Second-Order Effects: A successful launch has blowback. Model the impact on your servers, staff, and market position.
– Rehearse Under Fire
- Plan for First-Contact Friction: The user will not follow the happy path. Design for confusion and have rapid-response teams ready.
- Contain the Blast Radius: Use feature flags and canary releases to ensure a single bug doesn't cause terminal system failure.
- Run Realistic Kill-House Drills: Test your staging environment for chaos—API timeouts, data corruption, peak load—not just functionality.
– Seize the Objective
- Execute Intent, Not the Plan: If the initial tactic fails but the core strategy is sound, find another way in. Pivot on execution, not vision.
- Victory is Market Capture, Not Deployment: Shipping is not the win. The only success metrics are user adoption, retention, and profitability.
– Fortify the Position
- Manage the Human Factor: Morale and burnout are operational realities, not soft metrics. They directly impact velocity and long-term success.
- Impact Defines the Legacy: Solve a critical problem with a decisive, elegant solution. This is how you build defensible, lasting value.
Use Exploratory Prototyping: Build quick, simulated versions to test ideas.
Validate Early: Prototyping helps validate product-market fit quickly.
Learn from Users: Use prototypes to gather feedback and insights from users.
Start Low Fidelity: Begin with wireframes and lightweight prototypes.
Minimize Investment in Early Prototyping: Focus on learnings, not polished products.
Focus on Specific Feedback: Test one feature or workflow at a time.
Address ML-Specific Questions: Test model accuracy, data bias, and error handling.
Use ML-Powered Frameworks for Prototypes: Employ tools like Teachable Machine.
Test Live Models with Basic UIs: Get feedback on real-world system behavior.
Pre-populate Data for Personalization Prototypes: Give users a realistic experience.
Customize UI in Real-Time: Adjust the prototype based on user interactions.
Limit Technical Investment: Tailor the technical effort to the study's needs.
Ensure Reliability and Inclusivity: Validate that the system works for all users and scenarios.
Collaborate Across Teams: Work with product, design, research, and engineering.
Fail Early and Pivot: Prototypes allow for early failure and course correction.
2. Intel Is Survival, Not Optional
3. Find the System’s Weak Point
5. Clarity Prevents Catastrophe
6. Own the Point Decision
8. Master the Entire Operation
9. Secure Your Critical Dependencies
10. Anticipate the Secondary Effects
11. Plan for Point‑of‑Contact Friction
12. Contain the Blast Radius
13. Model the Chaos, Not Just the Screen
14. Execute the Core Intent
12. Contain the Blast Radius
13. Model the Chaos, Not Just the Screen
14. Execute the Core Intent
16. Acknowledge the Human Factor
17. Impact Forges Legacy