A while ago i mentioned the following quote from Donald Reinertsen’s Managing the design factory: The try-it-fix-it approach is faster and higher quality.
Here’s another interesting statement regarding trial and error: delighting customers can only be approached by trial and error. It’s a quote from Myth #8: Apple Just Builds A Better Mousetrap.
Trial and error leads to better quality, higher productivity and improved customer satisfaction. Why are so many people still convinced that we should have much longer preparation, bigger design documents, longer analyses, before implementing a process, or creating a product prototype?
Here’s another interesting statement regarding the power of prototypes: A big part of that is prototyping. Whereas other companies might make six or seven prototypes while developing a new product, Apple will make hundreds, Kahney said. “They discover these products through prototypes, and that’s what makes it so creative.” (Steve Jobs’s most ambitious product: Apple Inc.).
So, in addition to the benefits mentioned above, trial and error also increases creativity.
Trial and error increases quality, productivity, customer satisfaction and creativity. Sounds like a silver bullet.