Since last fall, I've been mulling over the concept that
confusion stalls projects or ideas.
Spots
I started a new software programming
side-project (side-project = in free time). I had an idea for a
Facebook application (I wanted to find out more about Facebook apps
and social interactions in "online social networks"). I worked at
it, got it along to a point, and then... fizz...
This isn't an uncommon story for many people who are of the
"idea" type (often programmers, but also other disciplines). What
usually happens is that they move on to the next shiny thing (and
"idea" people have a steady flow of potential ideas kicking around:
usually they like nothing better than generate new ones). I have a
particularly bad affliction of the "idea" personality: I prefer
starting, I prefer strategizing. Truth be told: I like the part
where I solve the riddle or puzzle. After that, the "doing" and
"seeing it in action" is all falling action (sometimes useful, but
usually less fun that the other part). What happened? I got stuck
on tags/open categorization vs. drop-downs/taxonomy categorization.
This wasn't a problem I was interested in solving. I wanted to know
what people would and wouldn't share online. Where they might push
an open system that allowed new kinds of information. How the
organic growth model worked. Those were/are my reasons. Folksonomy
vs. Taxonomy... Yawn. I was at a stand-still. Instead of moving on,
this time I forced myself to return to it and I realized that I
wasn't "moving on" because I was bored, but because I wasn't sure
what to do. My solution was to essentially not-commit on the
Folksonomy / Taxonomy thing and avoid the question: bam! unstuck.
(My clever hack: the way I did the database and web service
underneath, I could change the entry form for Spots tomorrow and it
would keep on ticking, 0 changes required.) I cared more about
continuing forward than I did about the performance sacrifices I
was making with my method. More recently I got stuck again. I was
trying to implement some testing and it wasn't working and I needed
to make this tool work with that tool. Again, something I didn't
care to learn... fizz... (So now I'm getting another person and
adding some interesting complexity [new language] to get me back
into it.)
Boiling the Ocean
Confusion ices ideas. Let's say you are trying to do a home-reno
project where you want to add a room onto your house. Let's say
that you want a family room / den. You've gone through the process
of getting plans from the Black-and-Decker home-reno book, you've
got the permits, you've lined up the electrician. You're starting
and you've got it partially framed. You've laid out enough room on
the wall for a 560" LCD TV too. And then your spouse/partner comes
in one day and asks you "are we still planning on hanging family
pictures in that corner?" You want to accommodate that, but then
the TV won't fit anymore. Should you change to a smaller TV? Who
could deal with a mere 500"? And should you be using LCD or waiting
for the forthcoming bacteria-on-electruded-silicon?
Should you re-visit the plans and make it bigger? But then does
it look nice on the side of the house still? Or maybe you should
re-think the floorplan... Bam! You're stuck.
You think you'll go buy any more supplies? Nope. Will you hammer
anything further? Nope. And, if you don't realize why you are
stuck, you're likely to have half a den for quite a while (and
probably an unhappy spouse).
The Fix
Ha! You've never read this blog before have you. No fix for you.
Look it in the eye and try to find the confusion, name it and make
a decision (or postpone the decision if it makes sense)? I'm
guessing just realizing the stuck will make it clear the next step
is answering that confusion and then you'll get back to work.
Disparate links:
Paul Buchheit on "'Good enough' is the enemy of 'not at
all'"