Evolution vs Iteration.

Evolution, as a strategy, is judging semi-random actions solely by outcome, and building any successes into your enduring structure or strategy. Iteration, on the other had, is judging planned stages on many criteria, and at completion re-envisioning your overall process to incorporate the valuable aspects of the idea tested at that stage.

Evolution is making success the only criteria to alter the DNA of your company, your product, or your vision.

Iteration is tactical, building the best overall version possible, with the knowledge that a change of landscape means a change of approach.

Evolving to chase successes has worked wonderfully for many companies, but it doesn’t have a master plan beyond chasing more success. Evolution pushes you only in the direction you past successes have created. And when a product, model, or approach becomes irrelevant, most evolutionary modeled companies face extinction.

Ecosystems evolve. Watching the record or film industries try to adapt a world of hard physical launch dates and international release windows to a post-internet reality should tell you how an evolved ecosystem adapts to disruptive change.

These industries are in need of a new iteration, because there are no more successes to chase. To mix metaphors, they’ve evolved into hammers, in a world without nails.

Iteration is strategic progression. Evolution is finding the best fit solutions in near-random chance.