In the course of creating something new, something never been done before, dead ends, diversions, roundabouts, start-overs, are inevitable. If first you don’t succeed…
When we launched our first two demonstration projects, in Portland and Chico, we were excited Copiosis was going to catch on like wildfire. It didn’t. That’s a good thing though, ’cause had it, we would have been overwhelmed. Our software, in its Minimum Viable Product (MVP) state, could not have handled the user load. The back end, which is even more basic than the front end, would have been a nightmare to negotiate, and we wouldn’t have been able to afford the server load, either.
So when trades online and interest in the projects seemed to stall, I was at once disappointed and glad. I realized things were happening exactly the way they were supposed to. And thank goodness.
In mid-November, members of the forming Core Group here at Copiosis assembled to assess next steps. I figured this meeting would end in something striking, something remarkable. I wasn’t disappointed. The small contingent realized that there was more the innovation was meant to do. Recording transactions for things people really didn’t want to trade, things people didn’t really desire, wasn’t the right way to go.
What is the right way? We’re not sure yet. But we are sure that we’re pretty excited about what we’re talking about. That means it’s bound to lead to something inspiring that keeps us moving along our path toward success.