How Slow is Too Slow?

Yesterday's post about going slow to go fast got a lot of attention (everybody loves a good line graph, I guess?) and one nuance that came up in the comments was that, obviously, there's a point of diminishing returns, where preparation becomes procrastination. The art lies in finding the right cut-off point. The minimum viable amount of prep work, so to speak.

I like the map analogy here. Assuming that you're travelling in sufficiently interesting terrain that you'd be lost without a map, how good a map do you need? What level of resolution, what amount of detail needs to be in there? And that, always, depends on your context. What are we trying to do on this terrain? For an exploration-style journey, the map better tell us what terrain there is: Ocean? Forest? Glacier? River? That matters. What species of tree? Maybe not so important.

So then, a map for your project needs enough detail that you know what obstacles you will most certainly encounter, but not so much detail that you'd be able to plot each step along the way (because we all know that reality isn't going to play out that way). Do we definitely need a mobile app from day one? What about SOC2 compliance? What's the cloud story? How should synching generally feel (offline first?) etc. Those big picture questions. Answers here allow you to make proactive smart choices that aren't even much of a trade-off. Just things you might not even have considered.

I'd love to hear if you've encountered situations along those lines: Either where more prep work could have saved the day, or where you felt an opportunity slipped through your fingers because you prepped for too long. Don't be shy, hit reply.