In my experience, I’ve rarely seen a “revolutionary” change work.

That being said, I guess the way I would blend big leaps with incrementalism is through a roadmap.

For example, we have some big changes in mind for some parts of Cheezburger, but we’re making them one step at a time and validating them along the way. We still know the end product we want, and how it’s going to be completely different what we have now, but we’re not leaping there directly.

That being said, I’m reminded of something from high school physics: nature abhors a vacuum. In other words, there may be times that your product is so bad that you have to throw out what you have (i.e. create a vacuum) in order to allow space for something new and better to flow in.

Of course, most of the time this isn’t what happens. In my experience, what’s most often needed is incremental improvement, but a redesign is the tool that’s used to get it. It’s like using a chainsaw to cut an apple.