Build the Right Thing

Using the Wright brothers vs. Samuel Langley as a framing device, this piece argues that product organizations fail when they apply financial validation too early in the discovery process. Outputs (features, artifacts) are confused with outcomes (measurable customer behavior change), and ROI becomes a de facto product manager that kills bold ideas before they can be tested. The core argument is about sequencing: experiments should drive learning first, and financial discipline should follow once customer value is established. Leadership must protect discovery from premature accounting to avoid short-termism and innovation atrophy.