Lesson #3: Cut Without Remorse
Now that you've started at the end, and designed your destination — you're about to enter the most deadly part of the project lifecycle.
You've got a plan, now.
The problem with a plan is that a plan is just a document. It's just words on a page. Words are infinite. Ideas are infinite. A plan can swell to infinite proportions. Even if you've shaped it nicely.
These are the death cries of a product yet to be born:
- "Oooh, that would be a cool thing to do!"
- "XYZ competitor has this feature…"
- "But what about two years from now?"
- "What if I ever decide to ______?"
Noooooooo. Don't do it!
Cuz scope creep will kill your That Thing you're working on dead faster than you can say "gantt chart."
Kill scope creep before it kills you
Focus on ONE, max TWO major features.
Your deadline's fixed — and you only have so many hours in the day to hit it. So the only thing you can change is scope. It's time to cut your way to success.
(Sidebar: I know all this talk about "sculpting" and "cutting" may seem repetitive, but that's because uncontrolled size and scope is the #1 predictor of product failure after doing nothing!)
How do you decide which two, max three features to include?
I cover this process in detail over several chapters in my book, Just Fucking Ship.
In short, though:
- Step 1: Ask yourself, "If I don't have this feature right now or next month, will my project fail forever?"
- Step 2: Then if you think the answer is Yes, ask yourself: "Really?"
- Step 3: Unless it's legit gonna kill you, drop it like it's hot. Make a note of it, set a reminder for a future date if you like… but let. it. go.
This is harder to do than it sounds — not because it's the actual actions are difficult, but because us creative peeps have all the feels.
Fact: All projects evolve over time.
Yes, all.
The only way to make something great is to be willing to make it at all. And that means making it imperfect first.
In fact, perfection is impossible. There's always "just one more thing."
Embrace that fact and put it to work for you.
Put a frame around your v1
You won't ever have a version 2.0 or 3.0 unless you ship a version 1.0.
And… those features you painfully cut, that you consider "missing"? Chances are that nobody else will notice. Nobody else will see the grand vision in your head. Nobody else will give it that much thought! Or, if the missing features are more obvious, as long as you do one thing really well… they'll happily wait.
This applies to software.
When we launched our now $750k-a-year Software as a Service app, Noko, we were missing so much: We didn't have a timer. We didn't have invoicing. We didn't have reporting, not really. We didn't even have a way to reset your password! And our billing system wasn't yet functional. We had 30 days to finish it. And yet people signed up — they used it — and (when we got the billing code working) they paid.
And it applies to books.
When I launched Just Fucking Ship after my 24-hour challenge, it was about 13,000 words. Now it's more than twice that size. It still lacks a clickable table of contents; there's no Kindle version; there are no worksheets. But thousands of people bought it and used it to ship. If I hadn't taken that challenge, version 1.0 may have never existed.
It applies to events.
Our bootstrapping conference always sells out… and lacks nearly all the trappings of our industry's other confs: No fancy parties, no exciting extracurricular "activities," no badges, no tracks, no projector, no wifi. All we've got are great talks and a lot of time to meet and chat.
And, embarrassingly, it applies to kitchens.
I used the JFS techniques to manage a 5-week office gut renovation and that turned out beautifully. Even though we had to adjust or drop several major "features" due to time and budget! The office is really, really awesome.
When it came to the kitchen in my own home, though, I psyched myself out. It was a historic home and I let the OMG IMPORTANCE of that make me crazy. (Not that the kitchen was historic!) So, I spent 4 years trying to find the perfect design. Four years with drawers that didn't open, cabinets that didn't hold plates, and a measly 100" of counter space. Until one day I said "screw this!" We did a simple reno: open a wall, new counters, new cabinets, smaller sink for more workspace. It's so good I could cry. I wished I'd done it the month we moved on.
All that stuff I had spent years trying to cram in didn't even matter.
And the silly thing is: I knew that. I knew it! It's so easy to fall into that trap. It's easy to overload your work with such importance that you never finish… or start.
Let me be the outside voice of reason for you: Don't make this mistake this time.
Embrace the inescapable imperfection.
Cut without remorse. Ship a draft. Even a shitty one!
You'll thank yourself later.
Challenge #3 will land in your inbox a bit later today! It's a worksheet that will help you cut features and plan for the future.
So, stay tuned!
Amy
Did you get this lesson from a friend?
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Here's what comes next
- WEEK 1 — Start at the End, Design Your Destination,
- WEEK 2 — Cut Without Remorse, Break It Into Bites
- WEEK 3 — How Do You Stay Motivated?, Finish Something Microscopic
- WEEK 4 — The Myth of the Big Win, Creating the Little Win Habit
- WEEK 5 — The Life Changing Magic of Shipping 1 & 2
- WEEK 6 — Myth of the Big Launch, The Fear of Shipping
- BONUS WEEK 7 — You Shipped! Now what?