Don’t Worry, Be Crappy
June 2013
Category: World Aircraft Sales Magazine Columnists
Author: Gil Wolin
Don’t Worry, Be Crappy
One of the most famous aviation movie quotes, from Top Gun, a film that helped inspire countless mid-1980s teen to pursue flying as a career, was “I feel the need… the need for speed.” After all, flying is all about speed…isn’t it? Perhaps – but perhaps not in all aspects.
Business Aviation certainly has been about speed; about saving time; getting to customers, to vendors, to partners, in the most time-efficient manner possible; and staying ahead of the competition. And this year marks the golden anniversary of a couple of well-known aviation “speed demons” – not a bad time to reflect on that “need for speed” – in aviation, as well as in business.
Those ‘speed demons’ are Dassault and Learjet, two business jet manufacturers that now have been in continual production for 50 years. The former is marking the 50th anniversary of the Fan Jet Falcon, forerunner of today’s family of Falcon business jets. And the Learjet celebrates the 50th birthday of the granddaddy of all light jets, the Lear Jet Model 23.
Now, while both were among the first business jets in production, neither can claim to be the first. That honor belongs to the Lockheed JetStar (first flight 1957) followed by the North American Sabre 40 (first flight 1958). Certification for both aircraft took four years, with first customer delivers occurring in 1961 and 1962 respectively. The Fan Jet Falcon (later branded the Falcon 20) moved a bit more quickly, with first flight occurring in May 1963 followed two years later with the first customer delivery in June 1965.
But it was Bill Lear who put “jet performance” into the “jet development” process – and he did so by restricting the Lear Jet Model 23’s maximum take-off weight to 12,499 pounds, enabling him to certify the Lear Jet 23 to the less-stringent Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) Part 23 standard, usually reserved for piston aircraft, in just one year.
The entrance of other mid-size and light jets into the market– like the DH/HS 125 and Jet Commander – dictated that Falcon and Learjet immediately look to the next iteration of their product line. And in short order came the Falcon D in 1968, and Models E and F in 1970. Learjet moved into the more-demanding FAR Part 25 realm in 1966 with the Model 24, followed by the 24B in 1968, and the 24D and eight-passenger Model 25 in 1970.
Dassault and Learjet have not been alone in the relatively rapid introduction of new models over the years. The development of the high-bypass turbofan engine in the early 1970s spurred the development of new business jets by all manufacturers. Some were upgrades of existing models – like the Lear 35 from the Lear 25, and the HS125-700 from the -600 – and others were completely new aircraft, like the first business tri-jet, the Falcon 50, and the mid-size Learjet 55.
Cessna followed its 1969 Citation 500 with the Citation I and an extended-cabin Citation II, quickly followed by the mid-size Citation III. And so the OEM game of numbers and letters has played out for the last 50 years, as the II becomes the III, the IV the IV-SP, the 604 becomes the 605, and the Global Express the Global 7000.
It’s not unlike what we’ve seen in Silicon Valley during the past 40 years – only there, the product upgrade introductions come so fast, they’re measured not in whole numbers, but in tenths. 1.0 may beget 2.0. But you’re likely to see 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3 in short order long before version 3.0 comes to market. And that’s because the mantra in Silicon Valley is not just to move fast, to stay ahead of the curve, to be first. It’s also “fail fast,” and learn from your mistakes – but make certain that you are first to market with Version 1.0 before anyone else.
If you wait, someone else will seize the initiative, and establish a potentially unassailable market share. You don’t have to be perfect right out of the box – you waste a valuable “first to market” advantage if you try. Frankly, you can fix it with those successive versions 1.1, 1.2, 2.0 – and sometimes increase your ROI on the original sale by charging for the upgrades. Just be first to market with new technology. In the words of computer guru Guy Kawasaki (channeling Bobby McFerrin), “Don’t Worry, Be Crappy.”
As he says in his blog: “An innovator doesn’t worry about shipping an innovative product with elements of crappiness if it’s truly innovative… If a company waits – for example, the engineers convince management to add more features – until everything is perfect, it will never ship, and the market will pass it by.”
But “failing fast” just isn’t an option for us. In aviation, being just “good”, isn’t good enough. Coming to market too quickly, just to be first with a new product or service, with the intent to “fail fast” and follow with Version 2.0, can cost lives. After all, this isn’t “Flight Simulator”. This is Real Flight we’re dealing with here!
Gil Wolin draws on forty years of aviation marketing and management experience as a consultant to the corporate aviation industry. His aviation career incorporates aircraft management, charter and FBO management experience (with TAG Aviation among others), and he is a frequent speaker at aviation, travel and service seminars. Gil is a past director of the RMBTA and NATA, and currently serves on the Advisory Board for Corporate Angel Network and GE Capital Solutions-Corporate Aviation. Gil can be contacted at gil@wolinaviation.com, or www.wolinaviation.com.
One of the most famous aviation movie quotes, from Top Gun, a film that helped inspire countless mid-1980s teen to pursue flying as a career, was “I feel the need… the need for speed.” After all, flying is all about speed…isn’t it? Perhaps – but perhaps not in all aspects.
Business Aviation certainly has been about speed; about saving time; getting to customers, to vendors, to partners, in the most time-efficient manner possible; and staying ahead of the competition. And this year marks the golden anniversary of a couple of well-known aviation “speed demons” – not a bad time to reflect on that “need for speed” – in aviation, as well as in business.
Those ‘speed demons’ are Dassault and Learjet, two business jet manufacturers that now have been in continual production for 50 years. The former is marking the 50th anniversary of the Fan Jet Falcon, forerunner of today’s family of Falcon business jets. And the Learjet celebrates the 50th birthday of the granddaddy of all light jets, the Lear Jet Model 23.
Now, while both were among the first business jets in production, neither can claim to be the first. That honor belongs to the Lockheed JetStar (first flight 1957) followed by the North American Sabre 40 (first flight 1958). Certification for both aircraft took four years, with first customer delivers occurring in 1961 and 1962 respectively. The Fan Jet Falcon (later branded the Falcon 20) moved a bit more quickly, with first flight occurring in May 1963 followed two years later with the first customer delivery in June 1965.
But it was Bill Lear who put “jet performance” into the “jet development” process – and he did so by restricting the Lear Jet Model 23’s maximum take-off weight to 12,499 pounds, enabling him to certify the Lear Jet 23 to the less-stringent Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) Part 23 standard, usually reserved for piston aircraft, in just one year.
The entrance of other mid-size and light jets into the market– like the DH/HS 125 and Jet Commander – dictated that Falcon and Learjet immediately look to the next iteration of their product line. And in short order came the Falcon D in 1968, and Models E and F in 1970. Learjet moved into the more-demanding FAR Part 25 realm in 1966 with the Model 24, followed by the 24B in 1968, and the 24D and eight-passenger Model 25 in 1970.
Dassault and Learjet have not been alone in the relatively rapid introduction of new models over the years. The development of the high-bypass turbofan engine in the early 1970s spurred the development of new business jets by all manufacturers. Some were upgrades of existing models – like the Lear 35 from the Lear 25, and the HS125-700 from the -600 – and others were completely new aircraft, like the first business tri-jet, the Falcon 50, and the mid-size Learjet 55.
Cessna followed its 1969 Citation 500 with the Citation I and an extended-cabin Citation II, quickly followed by the mid-size Citation III. And so the OEM game of numbers and letters has played out for the last 50 years, as the II becomes the III, the IV the IV-SP, the 604 becomes the 605, and the Global Express the Global 7000.
It’s not unlike what we’ve seen in Silicon Valley during the past 40 years – only there, the product upgrade introductions come so fast, they’re measured not in whole numbers, but in tenths. 1.0 may beget 2.0. But you’re likely to see 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3 in short order long before version 3.0 comes to market. And that’s because the mantra in Silicon Valley is not just to move fast, to stay ahead of the curve, to be first. It’s also “fail fast,” and learn from your mistakes – but make certain that you are first to market with Version 1.0 before anyone else.
If you wait, someone else will seize the initiative, and establish a potentially unassailable market share. You don’t have to be perfect right out of the box – you waste a valuable “first to market” advantage if you try. Frankly, you can fix it with those successive versions 1.1, 1.2, 2.0 – and sometimes increase your ROI on the original sale by charging for the upgrades. Just be first to market with new technology. In the words of computer guru Guy Kawasaki (channeling Bobby McFerrin), “Don’t Worry, Be Crappy.”
As he says in his blog: “An innovator doesn’t worry about shipping an innovative product with elements of crappiness if it’s truly innovative… If a company waits – for example, the engineers convince management to add more features – until everything is perfect, it will never ship, and the market will pass it by.”
But “failing fast” just isn’t an option for us. In aviation, being just “good”, isn’t good enough. Coming to market too quickly, just to be first with a new product or service, with the intent to “fail fast” and follow with Version 2.0, can cost lives. After all, this isn’t “Flight Simulator”. This is Real Flight we’re dealing with here!
Gil Wolin draws on forty years of aviation marketing and management experience as a consultant to the corporate aviation industry. His aviation career incorporates aircraft management, charter and FBO management experience (with TAG Aviation among others), and he is a frequent speaker at aviation, travel and service seminars. Gil is a past director of the RMBTA and NATA, and currently serves on the Advisory Board for Corporate Angel Network and GE Capital Solutions-Corporate Aviation. Gil can be contacted at gil@wolinaviation.com, or www.wolinaviation.com.
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