Here’s the pic that de-pic-ts what product dev is all about.

There’s seemingly endless here&there, without any real progress, mostly frustration. But suddenly there’s a breakthrough, a clear path takes you a long way. Then there’s the chaos again.

This is not a new pic, nor is it bound to product dev. It is very common in evolutionary theory. Indeed, it represents the punctuated equilibrium version of the evolutionary theory. Natural selection and survival of the fittest do not produce progress in the vast majority of time, yet at times there are explosive rates of innovation and development present. These jumps validate the theory in the end, but the theory itself is not good at explaining why and when the jump happens.

Now why and when’s the question. What do you think?