In The Lean Startup, Eric Ries shares one of his favorite questions to ask startups:
Are you making your product better? How do you know?
If you haven’t read it, even if you’re not part of a startup, I recommend that you do.
You see, if you’re starting your own law firm, you’re a startup. And even if you’re at an established firm, you can benefit from validated learning.
As Ries mentions, when confronted with these questions, people always say yes, of course, they’re making their product or service better. They point to recent changes that they’ve made and provide anecdotal evidence that the changes are “positive” because clients and customers seem to like them.
I leave it to Ries to convince you that you need to switch to innovation accounting. However, I encourage you to look at yourself with a very critical eye. What are you doing to make your service better? And what systems do you have in place to validate your hunch that the changes you are making are for the better?