#21 The momentum priority

Hello friends,

Can you believe it's mid-September already? That means there are only about 100 days left until the holidays? Have you sent out your magic emails yet?

The other side of inertia

I've been heads down in several big projects since August. We're at a point where we're in sync with the client and everyone is focused on working the plan. Like a crew team tuned-in to the Coxon's voice, everyone is in the rhythm. I'm fortunate to have an incredible engagement manager partnering with me who knows how to keep the momentum going (Thanks, Marty!).

Momentum is the only thing that matters when deadlines are tight and expectations are high. It's momentum that enables clients to not get hung up on small details and creative teams not to get sidetracked by distractions.

At this stage of the project, you want as few "new ideas" introduced as possible. None is best. When you're in create and build mode, all brilliant innovations and improvements should be placed on a backlog to address later.

Coming up with simpler solutions and fresher creative concepts during the process is expected. This is another reason "launch is the beginning" and why continual improvement and optimization are important. But try not to sacrifice present momentum for future enhancement. You don't need to discard your ideas, just save them for later.

To tie a bow around this point, I'll leave you with this great quote from Ben Chestnut, founder of Mailchimp.

Never sacrifice momentum. I might know a better path, but if we’ve got a lot of momentum, if everyone’s united and they’re marching together and the path is O.K., just go with the flow. I may eventually nudge them down a new path, but never stop the troops mid march.

Until next time,

Honestly,

David,

P.S. Loved this Movie Title Design mini-doc

P.P.S. Good reminder: How Bad Features Are Born

P.P.P.S. If this works, it could keep us out of a lot of SMS trouble: Unsend.it