Completing product cycles teach you things you can’t learn except through experience.
What is a product cycle?
Getting from initial idea 💡…
to finished product 📦 …
… in the hands of the intended audience
You’ll get answers to things like; When is it really done ✅? How long does this thing take? How do I react to the different stages of the process? What do I find easy, and what am I struggling to get done?
You’'ll experience a long tail of unforeseen issues. Solving those issues — following through — will bolster you with experience, and — maybe most importantly — self-esteem.
Following Through
Completing full product cycles is all about following through. That’s easier said than done. Here is a few pointers:
Lower your ambitions and expectations
Lower your standards for what a product is
Start with the smallest imaginable product — if in doubt, make it smaller
Follow through, all the way to serving a live audience
Repeat with a new product cycle ♻️
Apply this to both personal creative work, and product development in a business context.