In a post made some months back, Seth Godin talks of the culture of testing at Netflix. According to Seth, Netflix tests everything, except for three things: their business model, their culture, and the change in business model by switching from postal delivery to online delivery. According to Seth these could not be tested.
Is it really true that these cannot be tested?
It is true that these cannot be tested like DVD cases. (Netflix tested 200 of those before deciding on the design.) Yes, they cannot be tested in-house, on a test-bench. But they are tested - and have to be tested - in the market place. Values too are a result of testing in the market place of life. And like all testing these too involve time and costs.
All start-ups are based on memes that the founders bring with them. Values are memes. Business models too are memes. Memes like genes, are subject to Darwinian testing.
Netflix's early story gives an idea of the memes that led to the initial business model.
It is, I think, safe to assume that Netflix's values are largely based on what the founders had experienced, and seen, and absorbed, at other companies. These were the result of "testing" in their earlier work life. It is also safe to assume that these values are put to the test every day at Netflix. If the values are practiced they are reinforced, otherwise they mutate, or die.
No comments:
Post a Comment