The Road to Entrepreneurship...

Getting all your ducks in a row before you start to develop a product is really important. It is something that we, who are developing new ventures, should certainly pay attention to. We must realize that even if we build a better product, we are not guaranteed customers or riches. As I mentioned in a previous post, those of us in the technology and engineering fields tend to get caught up in the flash and excitement of developing a new product - probably because it is the easiest and most comfortable task for us. That is, we find ourselves rushing to building the product without any careful planning. Even if we do plan, it is based on the new and flashy features of the product and not the business behind it. Not to mention, development ends up becoming a reactive process. As any seasoned developer would tell you, reactive development is NOT the way to go. It is therefore important to note that improper planning (just winging it) is generally not a good idea. It probably increases the risk of your start-up failing.

So, to lower this risk - fight the urge to develop and plan!

Here is something that I am doing to fight this urge. I have created a project plan with highlighted milestones that each have beginning and ending dates. Simple as it may sound, this is something that is not preached enough. Creating a project plan for starting up your business is a worthy exercise as it deters you from only working on things that are most exciting to you (i.e. developing the product). The key here is to not perform tasks until the date that has been specified on the plan. For instance, in my project plan, I have set an exact date to begin development and I will not write a single line of code until that date.

That said, there are always exceptions to what works. It would be interesting to hear your take on this.