Last month, I wrote about building and shipping something, putting something into people's hands. I understand that life gets in the way from time to time, but I am genuinely wondering if you are creating something.
I am not referring to the work you do for your employer or your clients. What I am speaking about is the creative process of finding an itch, coming up with a solution, and creating a product that scratches that itch.
Your product doesn't need to change the world. You can start small. But you have to start. What are you working on? What itch are you scratching?
Start Small
Having big dreams is great. It is admirable. We need people with vision and ambition. But everything starts small. Thinking big isn't a problem as long as it doesn't distract you from the work that needs to be done today. Big goals always start small.
Big goals always start small.
Start small by focusing on that one feature that sets your application apart from every other application. How can you make it stand out? What can you do to bring value to the users of your application with that one feature? Not two. Not three. Only that one feature.
By intensely focusing on one piece of functionality, you force yourself to make that one feature great, to make it magical. It is fine to add bells and whistles, but they shouldn't distract the user from center stage.
Remove Clutter
Many projects have a list of features that goes on and on. And that is fine. But is the feature list of your project stopping you from shipping? Are you delaying the launch of your project because of one or two features that your application can probably do without?
If your project needs a dozen or more features to add value, it may be time to go back to the drawing board. If you need the bells and whistles to cover up that center stage isn't that great, you have missed the point.
What is stopping you from shipping?
