Working tips while building a startup
Achieve more without working longer
I used to work on my startup by spending long hours in my office trying to achieve many things. But recently I have changed that to, setting three important tasks that I need complete for the day, and I tell myself that the earlier I finish the earlier I can go. This has improved my productivity by at least 2x as I ended up completing the tasks which I had rarely accomplished in the past and by having a simple reward for the day has boosted my productivity.
Celebrate small victories
Startup journey is very lonely and in order to make it a little rewarding, I and my Co-founder tell ourselves that if we achieve this today, we are going to treat ourselves with say a Pizza or snack outside on and on. By setting these simple motivators for ourselves has really helped us achieve more. The rewards may be a little different for others.
Avoid interruptions
During our work our phones are on silent, we only tend to only pick up calls that ring for the 3rd time. This commitment has helped us to avoid distractions and complete our tasks faster for the day. It okay to not take customer calls but inform them that you will call back later and this is important to maintain rhythm during work.
How startup Co-founders can work effectively
Startup co-founders generally split tasks and set goals for the week and try and achieve them by working independently. An effective way that we realized was to work was to work together i.e. on 2 people on one computer. It sounds a little counter productive and initially we thought that it would waste our time but after giving it a try for several months here is what we noticed:
- While writing code having 2 pairs of eyes looking at it has significantly reduced bugs while improving code quality
- Even when one of the partner/co-founder doesn’t understand programming, we decided to do it together by working on programming logic (flow chart) before going to write code, the one who doesn’t understand the code can ask/remind the other on the logic they are trying to write and help stay focused without drifting away
- It has significantly improved the speed at which we were writing code. Because the one who was writing code was thinking out loud and asking for clarity on logic with his partner, there by avoiding unnecessary code
- It has boosted morale — when we solve a bug, or when we find a solution to a complex problem together it’s great
- We found it great to visit customers together as well, as we were listening to feedback better and were answering questions better .
We all know there are some mundane tasks, which we can work separately on but we noticed that we can work together at-least 80–90% of the time. I know that we all need personal space, this is the excuse that I give sometimes and work alone on my computer and not achieve as much.
If any one of you give this a try, let me know how it works out for you.
