Build, Deploy, Improve

When building something it’s easy to get hung up on how incomplete something is or how far off it is from the awesome (and complicated) idea in your head. But that shouldn’t stop you from building things and putting those things out there.

The concept of minimal viable product (MVP) gets thrown around a lot when people talk about their hot new idea, but I prefer building a minimally useful product. It’s not radically different; just a change in mindset. Don’t aim for building something “capable of growing or developing;” aim for building something with “a beneficial use” in version 1.0. Then, nurture and grow that beneficial use.

Pick a simple problem, and solve it. Then expand the scope of the problem and solve that. Rinse and repeat. Keep building. Keep deploying. Keep improving. Aiming for perfection in the first release will prevent you from ever releasing or even worse, starting to build.

Just remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day and your awesome idea won’t be either.