It’s happened to everyone. You just came out of the meeting and the task seemed so clear. Sitting back at your desk though, you realize how much handwaving was going on. What seemed like detailed steps was really just:
1) Plan the app
2) Build the app
3) Launch the app
It all seemed so clear until you actually had to do it.
Today I’ll talk about what to do when you find yourself in this position.
First off, plan for real! Not the hand wavy type plan, but detailed, nitty-gritty type plan. I like to use what I call the mitosis strategy. Start with the objective – in this case “build the app.” Break that objective down into at least two parts (more is ok). Are those parts simple enough you could do it in a single step? Would it take less than a couple of hours? If not, continue breaking up that objective into at least two steps. You are done when you have a collection of simple one step tasks that make up your final objective the same way individual cells make up a much larger organism.
Sometimes it is not clear what smaller tasks need to get done to complete our objective. This can feel really overwhelming, but there are two things that have helped me get started even when the next steps are unclear. First, make sure the objective is clear. Draw things out, write out a definition of done – whatever you need so that it is clear what you are trying to accomplish. Second, ask a question and write it down. If you aren’t sure what you need to do to complete the objective, what do you need to know? Writing down your question forces you to articulate your knowledge gaps. If you you aren’t sure how to find the answer to your question, use the mitosis strategy from above to divide up the question. What do you need to know before you can answer your question? Continue dividing up questions until you find something you can find an answer to and work your way back up!
The first few steps are usually the hardest, but hopefully these strategies can help provide a great way to tackle even the toughest problems!
