Article
Solve the problem you have now
One great strategy I’ve learned at FeedBurner (Chris Frye is mostly to blame thank, I think) is to solve the problem you have now, not the one you think you’ll have later.
What I mean
I think people waste a lot of time and energy (i.e. money) trying to solve problems that haven’t come up yet. I know I do.
Yet most of the time, we only know what problem we’re trying to solve right now. In fact, we’re lucky if we fully understand the scope and importance of the immediate problem.
Whether you’re dealing with web application design, music production, or home-theater technology (all things I’ve recently applied this thinking to), chances are you have no idea what new problems or variations on the current problem will arise, so don’t waste your time solving them now.
Instead, focus your efforts on creating a simple, effective solution to the problem at hand. You can always change it later.
For example
When I designed PingShot a few months ago, I assumed there would eventually be a vast catalog of services you could ping via FeedBurner. Today, there are only 13. I spent a lot of time (and as a result, development took a long time) trying to solve a problem I thought would exist in the future.
I’ve been much smarter about how I approach problem-solving since then. In working on FeedFlare (and a couple of other, announced services), I’m taking a short-range view unless the future is crystal clear and coming very soon!
Which reminds me…
Caveat
No, this isn’t always good advice. Yes, it depends. It always depends.
It’s okay to solve future problems as long as you’re totally sure what those will be. But next time you think you know, give your assumptions a second thought.
Do you really know the best way to solve the short-term problem while solving long-term ones? Do you really know how your app/song/project/whatever is going to evolve? Do you really know what your customers/listeners/friends/partners are going to want in 3 or 6 months or a year?
Think about it.