Start 'em Off With a BANG!, Part 2: Projects

A really good project is an exhilarating roller coaster ride from start to finish, fun, scary, and exhausting.

A really good project is NEVER a comfortable stroll for the first 80% and a sprint for the last 20%. The "stroll, then sprint" scenario is a disaster, or at the very best a mediocrity waiting to happen.

Starting a project off on the right footing is critical for excellence. I like to start projects by throwing the team into a task that:

• is technically scary, probably the scariest part of the product effort
• involves as many team members as possible
• is of basic and critical importance
• culminates in a really impressive demonstration to the rest of the company

Of course, this all comes complete with a (slightly) unreasonable and difficult-to-move deadline.
This course of action gets the juices flowing and the midnight oil burning early – and ensures that the tone is set for a successful outcome, which will leave all feeling good. There is nothing better for building cohesion, self-confidence, and independence in a group than to face fear and win.