Elevate THINK BEYOND

An effective approach to a startup business or new product often begins with first defining and releasing a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). An MVP has only the features that are absolutely necessary to be effective. This allows for feedback and improvement early and often, minimum investment/risk, and is usually iterated until a product is ready for a full release.

On many projects or tasks, I tend to enter 'stealth mode' until all the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed. I cringe at the suggestion that someone would dare try to help me or evaluate the work before I am done with it. In those moments, I'm like George McFly from Back to the Future -- "I just don't think I can take that kind of rejection."

Contrary to my tendencies, my best work is always the result of collaboration and receiving feedback along the way. Breaking projects into steps or mini-MVPs helps to create more organic opportunities for outside input, improvement, and communication. In branding and design work, few things are more important than communication.

Often projects or features get released or moved to the next stage whether you're ready/comfortable or not. Try to take a moment before each stage of the project to prioritize features to work on to ensure that you are building something that will be most beneficial and least surprising to the next person to use it -- whether that is a co-worker, client, or a customer.

Deadlines and whims of the powers-that-be wait for no one and can pop up like a proverbial jack-in-the-box. As you continually turn the crank, be as ready to ship as possible. Often this means tackling the hard and foundational problems first. That will go a long way towards pre-empting any regret and maximizing the effectiveness of the project.