04/01/2023
Dream in Years, Plan in Months, Ship in Days
This guideline keeps coming up as I research and connect with other business owners and partners in the work of pushing boundaries and moving mountains. It originates with D.J Patil when he was the US Chief Data Scientist under the Obama Administration - as a note to self.
I appreciate what Lance Willett writes on the subject:
"I love this philosophy for strategy and ex*****on because it puts the right balance on each activity.
Dreams take time and effort to accomplish, and a clear product vision means looking ahead enough to inspire and motivate people to join the mission.
When we donโt know an accurate launch date at the beginning, monthly plans split the work into smaller projects and tasks thatโll bring improvements out to the public quicker. This means we learn faster, measure the immediate impact of a launch, and track usage as close as possible to real-time.
Speed matters in marketing, business, and product development. Sometimes, we arenโt confident the current change is the right one, yet shipping before weโre fully confident leads to a smarter set of next changes โ informed by the people using the product.
Ship daily, measure weekly, and plan in months to find out what works sooner rather than later." (From Willetf's "The Sensible Leader" blog)