Lesson: You can’t wait for clarity and stability, you must make progress now, knowing that there is re-work cost in the future. The value is not in the outcome (progress) its in the journey (learning).
You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
Don’t waste effort on future problems, they are problems you want to have because they reflect that you have MADE the progress. Prioritize getting yourself into a place where you can have those problems fist.
This is one lesson that I think I already knew and which reflects my instincts and values.
I am always happy to do 100% of the work, even if 99% of it is thrown out, but we make 1% progress, as opposed to doing nothing because we don’t want to waste our energy, but then make no progress.
I think there might be a model, kinda like the cost, quality, speed model in project management / engineering, but which applies to startups.
It can feel like wasting effort, because you don’t achieve the objective, but what you are doing is learning and generating value along the way.
Make your goals immediate according to the view today, and worry about getting yourself out of traps when the traps appear.
Time spent on trying to avoid future obstacles is wasted because things are too murky to know if those obstacles will ever appear, or if they do what shape they will take.
Someone once said to me they don’t want to do something, because they will just have to re-do it later. It struck me then as the wrong mindset. Do it now and move on. then fix it later if it matters and you have to. Don’t spend your time thinking about the future. Do what needs to be done now to make progress.
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