Everything is easier and harder than you think it will be. It’s easier because humans tend to overcomplicate matters, when usually the simplest thing will prob

Everything is easier and harder than you think it will be. It’s easier because humans tend to overcomplicate matters, when usually the simplest thing will probably suffice until you have serious demand for something more complicated. It’s harder because once you decide to do something simple, humans have a strong impulse to overestimate what they can do in a day, a week, or a month. I call this the sandwich principle. Making a sandwich is easy - you probably know the steps by heart. So, how long would it take to make 500 sandwiches? Using your gut, you might not think an answer like 2 hours is off. But if you do the math, you realize you’re probably way off. This is because the simplicity of the task fools us into thinking it will also go quickly. Focus hardcore on outcomes, and define your metrics of success early (and redefine them over time). Hand these things to your product owners and engineers, and ask them to deliver a new version of value as often as possible. Listen to your tech leaders when they start talking about rebuilding and refactoring, and ask them if there’s a way to do it Little by little. Take everything in small increments, even if you have big vision. You can still do it little by little, and you’ll learn more and get the value curve going much faster that way.