The Economies of Learning

The book The Lean Startup by Eric Ries highlights the power of the Economies of Learning concept with a story about stuffing 100 envelopes.

Instead of the traditional Economies of Scale approach associated with the division and specialization of labor—first folding all 100 newsletters, then stuffing all 100 of the newsletters into envelopes, then sealing all 100 envelopes and finally putting stamps on all 100 of the envelopes—Ries discovered the optimal way to manage these tasks is to fold, stuff, seal, and stamp one newsletter at a time. The reason why this "one at a time" approach is more effective is because:

1. From a process perspective, you can learn what's most efficient by conducting the collective tasks one after the other and immediately reapply those learnings in the next instance (like inserting a newsletter crease first into the envelope so the newsletter doesn't catch on the envelope flap).
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