Make Mistakes Early
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Before digital cameras, photographers had to use film — temperamental, expensive film. In a single roll, you might only get 16 or 24 exposures, and while you were out snapping away, you had no idea what you had. You only found out later that many, ok most, of your pictures were out of focus, framed poorly, or altogether unusable. As much as your pocketbook felt the cost of every wasted exposure, it didn’t stop you from taking pictures — mistakes were part of the process.
Digital is different. While building software, we can lose touch with our creative breadcrumbs. Iterations decompose silently into the sediment on which the final result was built. And when we evaluate our success or failure, only the end product is considered. We focus on the report card, not the homework, office hours, or class discussion — yet they cannot be separated from the resulting grade!
On the creative journey, detours and cul-de-sacs not optional, they are foundational. So why are software teams so uncomfortable with this idea? Well, change has a real cost. As time marches forward, adjusting does becomes more expensive, but that doesn’t mean the changes aren’t valuable. In fact, good adjustments, the ones that set the product on a better path are downright bargains!
The trick is that we want these big shifts to happen early, through cheap, malleable mediums like conversation, whiteboards, and sketches. Early on, throw away all the sketches you want. Burn your paper prototypes. Our designs should solidify in lockstep with our insights — fidelity should scale with confidence. Address the big, foundational questions early with a beginner’s mind and the patience of a naturalist. This is no time to be in a hurry.
Learn all you can before you move to code, but don’t assume the learning stops when you start building! In fact, some of the most valuable feedback happens during the build and test process! There are some things you can only learn when real humans use real software.
We should all expect and embrace change at every step, but if you’ve done your job well, later changes are smaller changes — easier to absorb. We don’t want to pour our concrete foundation and then ‘pivot’ from a single family rancher to an apartment complex — that’s a problem.
“Don’t be afraid to throw things away. Trash it, move on, and don’t look back” — Dan Cederholm
So once you know what to build, be rigorous. Keep a tight schedule and adapt to incremental feedback. Early, embrace big ideas and swing for the fences. Play with ideas — enough ideas to feel you have something people will want. Discovery is a pathless land so don’t try to pave it until you are sure where it’s headed.
Make mistakes early.
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