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Taking small steps

In our last article, we mentioned that your plans should include small, accomplishable steps that don’t take too many resources.

This is a strategy used in all aspects of the business world that enables the maxim "fail early and fail fast." The idea is that when a problem arises, the less you have invested, the less it will cost and the easier it is to pivot. 

The term in software engineering is "agile methodology" and in starting a business it is the "lean
startup". You may have also heard the term MVP - minimal viable product. The technology landscape and business ecosystem are continuously changing. Developing and following a multi-year plan is bound to be at least partially, if not completely, irrelevant by the time you complete it. So don't try to figure out exactly what the entire picture will look like when you're done. Instead, only develop a detailed plan for the smallest piece of work you can do that will actually mean something. This is true in most/all aspects of life, not only technology businesses.

How can this possibly work? If you don't understand the big picture of what you are trying to accomplish, it will be impossible to get there!!! This is where the difference between vision and execution comes into play. Your vision is the target that you want to get to. However, it shouldn’t be
extremely detailed and it certainly shouldn’t include any execution plans or strategies. Using MVP as a strategy, you should plan out each deliverable when you’re ready to start implementing, and determine what is the smallest piece of work that will get me closer to accomplishing my vision. It should be something concrete, with obvious value. If it doesn’t work, take a step back, look towards the goal and think of what is a different methodology that can be used that will be on the path to the goal. You have now failed early, on one step of the process, but it doesn’t ruin the rest of the plan. This is called pivoting, choosing a new plan, or building a new micro-strategy for the next step on the way to the vision.

As an example:
Let’s say you’re going to be in Paris for a day on a layover. As soon as you hear Paris, you start thinking, “I’m going to visit the Louvre.” You plan out each painting you want to see and you look at maps of the building and so on. Your day in Paris has effectively been changed to a day at the Louvre.
Shortly before your flight, you find out that the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays. You are going to be there on Tuesday. Your day is now ruined and you are miserable. However, it looks like you confused your target and execution. The target was not “go to the Louvre”, remember this is not a special trip to look at paintings. Your target in this case should be “something to do while I’m in Paris on a one day layover”. Your planned execution was something enjoyable, going to the Louvre. You can now pivot, change the execution and still accomplish the main goal. You like paintings, you’re in Paris, go to the Orsay and look at some old masters.

In some cases, the vision (or certain aspects of it) might change as well. If you are executing a set of micro-strategies to build single step plans, a pivot towards a modified vision can probably use a number
of the steps you’ve already built. Developing runway architecture, enables you to determine the specific infrastructure needed only for the next couple of steps, with the ability to pivot and refactor as needed to support the next stages. It might look like this will cost a little more, or require slightly more effort. However, you should realize that if you planned the entire architecture from the beginning and planned exactly how the end result should look, you will most likely have to tear it all down in the middle when something in the end vision changes.

It isn’t always possible to take things one step at a time. For example, if you want a university degree, you have to commit to four years of college. Until you finish the degree, you don’t have one. However, there are a number of pivot points, even when committing to something for a significant time period. If you decide that you aren’t interested in the specific degree you were going for, it should be possible to change and use the classes you’ve already taken for credit towards the new degree. You may be able to choose specific classes or electives that will further you today, even without the degree. Even when you’re locked in, you should keep in mind that you are always looking for small steps that provide high value.

Keep in mind that when using strategy in all aspects of your life, don’t overplan. As they say, “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.” Be agile, flexible and learn to pivot on a dime.

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