This is the final post in the Evolution of Business series and I hope you’ve enjoyed it.

Evolution offers a wealth of ideas for companies looking to survive in the marketplace; but these four simple guidelines will provide a solid starting point for innovation and growth.

Deliver complete results. Every single organism must compete in every generation. Incomplete organisms, or prototype products, simply will not survive. Drive your teams to deliver complete tests, even when the tests are very limited. Push every test to complete something. The best tests connect directly with the customers. In evolutionary terms, every organism must survive in the environment. Make sure your experiments survive in your market environment.

Measure Everything. Change without a direction is simply chaos, but you cannot guess effective directions for change. As much as you may want to lead or direct the change, it won’t work. Give up, let go, and simply measure everything. The results will point the way to effective change.

Cycle swiftly. Run short, fast tests. Some software development teams compile the entire product every day. This discipline forces the development teams to deliver complete results on a daily basis.

Connect with your customers. They are the ultimate arbiters of your products/services and the source of your survival. Go out of your office to meet with them and live with them. Bring them in-house to live with your teams. Closer, deeper connections with your customers will drive faster, better development.

Best wishes and great success in your evolution and growth in 2009!

See you next year.