“Nothing you’ve done is anything I’d miss. You’re good, now get better.” – Don Draper
A great year for British cycling has increased the coverage of their highly effective appliance of science.
It’s a timely reminder of the “aggregation of marginal gains” and in a recent BBC Breakfast interview, British Cylcing’s Performance Director, Dave Brailsford, outlined his roadmap for success:
“Firstly, you need a team with the skills and motivation to succeed”
“Secondly, you need to understand what you want to achieve”
“Thirdly, you need to understand where you are now”
“Then, you need to put a plan in place to see how you can get from where you are now to what you want to achieve”
“Also, it’s important to understand the ‘aggregation of marginal gains’. Put simply….how small improvements in a number of different aspects of what we do can have a huge impact to the overall performance of the team.”
That’s Kaizen in action. A commitment to continuous improvement of practices, processes, transparency and efficiency.
The science of marginal gains is becoming a powerful tool for independent game developers. Lower barriers to entry, massive disruption and evolving audiences mean that your product is NOT the product anymore.
Simply build it and they will not come. Trust us, we’ve got previous!
For the games industry, winter is definitely coming*. Time to get out of the building and start sweating the small stuff.
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* That’s an actual t-shirt, you can buy it here!