My mistakes

For the last two weekends, I spent too much time and money trying to build something that didn't work, only to realize afterward that I could have easily bought a great solution off the shelf for far less. You can read about my video backdrop failure here, if you missed it.

Sadly, I had broken many of the rules that I routinely write about.

What rules, you ask? Here's a list:

1. First identify the mission value.

Instead of first asking, "What would this be worth to me?" or "How bad would it be to live without this?", my first question was, "How hard could it be?" That means trying to name the cost first, which then subtly incentivizes me to overestimate the value as a justification for the cost.

2. Identify (and stick to) mission requirements.

My requirements were simple: I needed something that's flat, quick to set up and take down, and compact to store. Along the way, I wound up prioritizing non-essentials like clever, unique, and custom-built. Those are attractive to my personally type, but they're not mission requirements.

3. Budget funds appropriately.

Having completely neglected the rule, "First identify the mission value," it was easy to skip this one too. I'll just make sure the costs stay "reasonably low," I said. Wrong answer. If there’s a clear mission value, then there's a clear — and probably lower — maximum cost. I should have defined that at the outset.

4. Budget time appropriately.

Just like money, time is a limited resource. When budgeting your time, it can help to "charge yourself" an hourly rate, which you can roughly derive from what you earn at your "real job." If I had done that, there's no way I would have so readily sunk two weekends of my life into this little project.

5. Look hard at existing solutions.

It's a big world, and there's a big marketplace of products and ideas to go with it. However special your own situation may seem, it's very likely someone else has been there, done that, failed, and done it better. Once I realized my custom build was a failure, it took me just an hour or two to find an off-the-shelf solution that was darn near perfect for my actual mission requirements. If only I were subscribed to a daily mailing list that told me to look harder at existing solutions first.

6. Don't assume your needs are unique.

See above about existing solutions. A custom build is the choice of last resort. Your need is not unique until you've proven that there is no viable existing solution.

7. Don't be seduced by your own creativity.

Mission requirements are measurable outcomes. Clever, unique, and custom-built may be fun, but they're almost never measurable mission requirements.

8. Assess the value (and cost) of making it "even better" before seeking improvements.

A valuable mission-driven project must be launched at some point. Each improvement you think up along the way will delay that launch and increase costs. If you're going to do that, you’d better be able to justify it with measurable outcomes. My mistake was adding "bells and whistles" mid-project, without comparing cost to value.

9. Focus on your own area of expertise.

Learning new skills can be valuable — but not always. And always learning new skills will mean constantly struggling to produce middling outcomes. If you want great results, then do the things you're great at, and get someone else to be great at the other things. My custom project was fun (and I agree there's some personal value in fun), but it's not what I'm great at. And the result was not even mediocre. That's not a fun story to tell.

Here's the thing:

My "lesson learned" story is about a guy who jumped head-first into a DIY craft project that failed. I had a little fun, lost some hours and some bucks out of my life, felt bad about it for a while, and then recovered.

Your "lesson learned" story could be a lot more painful. I've seen organizations jump head-first into new projects, and eventually be forced to abandon the whole thing. The organization usually survives, but they've lost substantially in money, opportunity, good will, and morale.

When your team gets a hot new idea that just "has to be done," think carefully about the guidelines above. before getting seduced by the adventure of it.

You might just save yourself — and your mission — a while lot of trouble.

All the best,
A.