the slowest way to learn is building

I was listening to The Art of Product recently when Derrick said something that stuck with me: the slowest way to learn is to build product.

This feels right. It’s much more efficient to talk to people, run experiments, etc. However, at the end of the day, the only way to truly validate learnings is by having a product that you can put into the field - and that requires building.

Of course, Derrick wasn’t suggesting never build. He was reminding himself (and listeners) that priority matters. Building first before you know what or why you’re building it is a slow way to learn.