Game Over, Time to Dance

At work we have been using “Lean Startup” practices for building new businesses. No kidding. Even at work, I’m haunted by “lean” initiatives. In Lean Startup, you articulate the assumptions you have about your customers and growth opportunities and then devise experiments to test these assumptions. The key principle is that, rather than build a big, honkin’ whose-a-what-sy and then discover no one wants it, you start small, testing each assumption with real customers, and when things don’t go as you assumed, you pivot—you move in a different direction.

So, here’s the moral of the story. The “What’s the Point” game was a big, fat failure. Everyone hated it, except maybe a couple of people who thought it was maybe, kinda cute.   I imagined it would be hysterically funny and wildly popular, and that it would catapult me to fame. Who knew? I might win an award at the annual “Game Developer’s Conference.”  Thank goodness I canceled the billboard ad.

I am going to “pivot” and end the game.  I rather like to think of it as a pirouette instead of a pivot, both because I love to dance and because I love those damn cookies (3 points for 2 of them, for those of you still playing).

And for the one person who had the heart to play last week (who, in full disclosure, is a close relative, a lifetime member, and a math genius), I calculated the door of that mini-bar fridge to be a whopping 54 points:  16 for the hard liquor (4 x 4 points); 12 for the 2 candy bars; 3 for the granola bar; 9 for the peanuts;  and 14 for the 16-ounce bottle of sorry-ass cheap hotel white wine.

Three intrepid souls played the game, and I am awarding all three of you the special prize I was reserving for week 10.  Are you ready for this? You each win a customized, personalized parody song, created by me, for whatever person or occasion you choose. Congratulations!

And for the rest of you, thank you for your honesty, your kindness, and your reading of the blog!

Game over. Let’s all dance!