Building a successful product: The devil’s advocate
Projects don’t fail because we don’t care or because we don’t know enough and they definitely don’t fail because we’re not working hard.
Projects fail because of all the things we say that slow things down, average things out or create panic.
In the early start of our journey we discovered Seth Godin’s publication of ShipIt Workbook and it instantly hit a nerve
The booklet’s main purpose is to make your vision clear; to identify what you don’t know and to highlight what you believe. It’s a write-in-it, get-it-done, banish-fear workbook.
While we suggest to take your time and start filling it out, here are some starting questions and ideas for the devil’s advocate:
- It’s too soon
- It’s too late
- It’s technically risky
- It’s boring
- It will offend retailers
- There are significant legal issues
- The plant is too backed up to produce this
- It will take too much training to support
- The Media won’t get it
- Our industry is too regulated
- The home office won’t approve
- There’s no room in this year’s budget, let’s review in a few months
- It might fail
- Our big competitor will steal it
- It’s been done before
- It’s never been done before
- People will laugh at us
If you find yourself saying them, stop it!
This article is part of the ongoing series, “Our Ship It Journal”. Written by the team directly involved, the series looks at the full, uncut journey of creating an independent game studio.
