Nailing the first steps of your new path or business with speed and clarity
Whether we are starting a new project, exploring a new path, or running a business, we often do work based on how it makes us feel rather than what needs to be done.
We procrastinate, make emotional decisions, and might even change our path based on how we feel.
Although this is not always logical, it is human nature.
As Tony Robbins says, we have a strong drive to move towards pleasure, and away from pain.
When we fail to act upon something that’s important, it’s because we are trying to avoid the pain associated with acting upon it. Often times we fail to act because of the uncertainty associated with that action.
As initiators and entrepreneurs, we are constantly learning and doing in these uncertain circumstances. Even the backdrop to our actions can be filled with uncertainty. Will we have enough money to continue? How much time is this task or project going to take? Hell, am I even enough?
Not knowing is the constant state of our work.
In this state of uncertainty, you don’t know the tasks to neatly type into your to-do list. You don’t magically go from not knowing to knowing what to do. You arrive at your to-do list after some thinking, questioning, and researching.
So the question is, where is your work?
This question might take you back to your 3rd-grade math class.
The teacher asks you, “I see your answer, but where’s your work?”
We often do the heavy lifting in our heads. By doing so, we are failing to recognize a distinct phase of our work.
Just as we have a formal process to capture and organize our action plan into a to-do list, we need a method to consistently work through an important and regular part of our process — the discovery phase.
When you are doing something new, you often don’t start by knowing what to do. You’re usually not even sure what you need to know, let alone what to do. You start with more questions than answers.
When you don’t know what to do, the second step is to act. The first step is to discover.
In the discovery phase, we are thinking and questioning. We are reducing our knowledge gap until we have enough information to act. In this state of not knowing, figuring out the right questions to ask is the real work.
For this, we need a framework designed for discovery. A framework that loosely follows the scientific process (a systematic and logical approach to discovering how things work).
Recently I needed to hire a software company to create a software product. I would be offering this software to customers as a subscription, so I needed a software company that would act as a partner, not just a supplier.
This was my first time doing this. I didn’t know how to go about finding the right company to partner with. I didn’t even know what I needed to know.
To understand what I needed to know, I asked myself these 4 questions:
1) What results do I want?
2) What do I not want?
3) What do I think I know?
4) What do I need to know more about?
The result I wanted was to hire a professional, committed software company that would code the software, and provide standby technical support.
What I didn’t want was uncertainty in the relationship. I also didn’t want to be stuck with the company if they didn’t honor their commitments- so I felt that I needed to have access to the full code at all times and for the code to be well-documented.
What I thought I knew was that I wanted a smaller company (but for stability, I wanted more than 10–15 employees). I wanted to have a direct relationship with the owner, so there would be direct accountability.
What I needed to know more about were the type and cost of different support relationships offered by software companies, and also the type of support needed by my customers. I also needed to know the cost of creating this software product.
This 4 question “framework” helped me think through the discovery phase of finding the right software partner. It provided structure and clarity to systematically uncover my thoughts and concerns. If I tried to do this work in my head, I know I wouldn’t have gained as much insight, and it would have taken me longer to get through the discovery phase and create the todo list that would follow.
Part of the joy of being a leader or an entrepreneur is that there are no limits to what you can think. Letting your thoughts and mind wander can be exciting and lead to great insights and results. While this method works well for creative problem solving, we need a more structured approach for the discovery phase, which we find ourselves in more often than not.
I’m sure you could find many “frameworks” or processes to navigate through this discovery phase. But I think it’s important that we recognize it as a distinct phase, and have a familiar and reliable process to work through it in writing.
During the discovery phase you’re feeling the least certain, and have the least momentum. The last place you want to be when you’re feeling uncertain is in your own head.
Show your work…
…and here’s a one-page reminder of the discovery phase questions. You can download it as a pdf here.
