There’s a theory that everything we think is clever or new has been done before – well, in the case of software developers dogfooding (forcing themselves to use early versions of their own work) it’s definitely true.

Here’s this gem about Edison’s lab:

“Workers at the Edison laboratory and the residents of Menlo Park became the guinea pigs for the first incandescent lighting system. Lamps hung from overhear wires lighted the workshops, the streets around the invention factory, and even a few residences.”

I’m just glad I never had to dogfood the first jockstraps, automobile breaking systems, or defibrillators.

(Quote is from the excellent Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation, By James Utterback)