Blog

The Lean Media book project is still on track. In November, I wrapped up the second draft and sent it out to a group of beta readers including media professionals and lay readers. I am now synthesizing their feedback and determining what parts need to be brought back into the third draft. There are someRead more

Regardless of whether they use Lean Media methods or not, media pros frequently rely upon surrogate audiences to understand the market for new media. Surrogate audiences are groups of people who like media that’s similar to what you are working on. Let’s say you are producing a new TV show, Rodent World, which explores theRead more

The following post is excerpted from my draft manuscript about Lean Media. Please leave comments below to help me improve the draft! Looking at the Lean Media flowchart, some creators may be aghast at the use of “prototype” to describe early or incomplete versions of a work in progress: The concern is understandable. The termRead more

I’m in the midst of writing my Lean Media book and today was working on a chapter about Lean Media feedback. Since the beginning feedback has been a central part of the Lean Media framework, and the last version of the flowchart had audience feedback coming back to the creative team after the idea, prototypes, and soft launch.Read more

In my July update, I mentioned the development of the three principles of Lean Media, which came out of my work on the Lean Media book as well as my spring presentation to a small audience that included media people. In this post, I will describe the 3 principles of Lean Media in more detail, and present a diagramRead more

So I am working on a new chapter for my Lean Media book that covers the Lean Media flowchart (see an early version of the flowchart here). Conceptually I thought I was pretty clear on what the different stages entailed. A prototype was a rough or incomplete version of the media being developed. By the timeRead more

A vital element of the Lean Startup framework is the minimum viable product (MVP). This is an early version of the product to show a small set of users. It is not necessary to have a perfect product, nor should the team show the MVP to mainstream customers. Rather, the idea is to quickly getRead more

I assumed that running lean in the business world boiled down to streamlining manufacturing operations (see my earlier post, “What is lean manufacturing?“). I was wrong. My view of lean concepts, not to mention my pre-existing evaluation criteria for media projects, was shaken up not long after the supply chain management class at MIT ended.Read more

The following post is excerpted from the manuscript of my book about Lean Media. I will respond to comments, corrections, and other feedback at the bottom of the page. I was introduced to lean business theories while attending MIT. One of my Supply Chain Management instructors, Charles Fine, mentioned lean manufacturing in a discussion of differentRead more

I have been relatively quiet on the Lean Media website. Behind the scenes, however, I have been making progress with the Lean Media book. There are a few major updates to share, but I also want to reassure readers that the project is continuing and I expect to have more materials to post (including new draft chapters) inRead more