Is today the last day of our web business? Should we pack up our stuff and do something new? Has this idea failed? Will it ever gain momentum?
Image thanks to Zoomar
Have a meeting once per quarter and put this proposition to the team. It’s not about being negative. It powerfully shakes us out of that obsession we can get about our products. The obsession that keeps us going when the going gets tough. The obsession with our product that makes something out of nothing. Its a good obsession to have. Evan Williams had to have it to get an idea as crazy as Twitter to where it is today. But it’s healthy, just 4 times a year to step back and be tough. Maybe it just isn’t going to work and we are going to waste another year and lots of money getting there.
More often, the result of these discussions isn’t to shut down operations. It is the discovery of the tight focus required for the things that must be done to succeed and the things which we are wasting our time on.
Try it, and let me know how you go.