There are two ways to tackle a big project – Go for broke, or Fai fai lemu (take it easy). It impacts on Web Development work but also on life in general.
I used to go for broke in everything – running 100 miles an hour. It got me a lot of bruises, ricks and pains when snowboarding and is the main reason I retired from the sport (my brain still wanted to go 100 miles and hour, but my body said “Not any more!”).
Now there’s nothing wrong with giving it everything we’ve got but I’ve noticed that the other way, taking things step by step seems to last a little longer and creates less of a wake. I have achieved a mass of experiences by running hard, and this has contributed well to my overall understanding of the world, and how I fit into it. The point is not that going for broke is necessarily wrong, it’s that taking a measured approach to a project, challenge or problem creates a depth of understanding and a natural, more solid growth.
I am a trained teacher. I also love efficiency. So I am always looking for an efficient way to get to the point that learning occurs – what the psychiatrists call the “Ah-hah!” factor. I set up and ran a business teaching people to snowboard at Mt Ruapehu a few years back. While others were out there going for broke, and literally breaking bones, and their pride left right and centre, I developed a unique snowboard teaching technique. One based on the key aspect to boarding – balance – and taking things step by step.
I simply taught balance by getting the student to jump back and forward in a one spot – as I gently pushed them off balance. Just teaching them to maintain their balance set them up for very solid learning. Sure they felt stupid jumping and hopping back and forward, but I was imprinting into their brain that they were a part of the snowboard and it was part of them.
Then I would teach them to jump and turn, slide a metre or so down a gentle slope and then jump and turn to a stop – all the while maintaining their balance. While this felt silly to them for the first ten minutes or so, taking it easy to get started meant that nine times out of ten they would be away laughing in an hour or two and totally confident hours, sometimes days ahead of the others who just took off down the mountain and tried to do all the balancing with their knees, or ankles. My students wiped out one tenth of the time of others who charged in there and went for broke.
I based my teaching style on a good understanding of where the learning best occurred – the brain and took it easy step by step. It worked well.
The same thing applies to building a relationship. While it is not a popular thing to talk about with sexual immorality abounding nowadays, a relationship and intimacy is best built up over time, rather than jumping into the sack on the first date. Don’t shoot the messenger over this one please guys. I didn’t write the rules – I’m just stating the facts as I have learned them to be!
In the web development industry we get approached by idiots and optimists all the time thinking that if they think big, spend a whole bunch of money, and go-for-broke that they will have the next big thing and make a mint. Many of them also want the web developer to cough up their time and money and go into partnership with them too! Put this another way – “I’ve got the bright idea; you do all the work; and we’ll share the gazillions that we’ll make together!”
OK, now some people do have very good ideas and can be worthy of an investment but most are dreamers who have an idea but no where-withall to push through and make it happen, market it well, manage a decent business and so on.
Contrary to many who sell big projects then get themselves caught in a big pickle, my advice to all and sundry in my industry (and has been since 1999) is to take it easy and work a larger development through stages. Get the basic website up and running, then plug in an additional module or two and then e-commerce, and then social media and then affiliate systems and so on.
Many clients like this idea because it reduces the size of the up-front commitment, the initial complexity and potential problems. It gives them a chance to build a relationship with their developer, and also gives them a greater understanding of what is ahead for them in the second and subsequent stages.
Fai fai lemu, to you too now!
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