January 25th, 2008

Expert Advice On Picking The Right Projects

It seems that this is your first time to my blog. Welcome! In this blog I will share my ideas on how you can make a living in a way that feels good to you, your family, your environment and everyone around you. If you want to know more about me and this blog, check out my about page. And if you want to stay updated on my new posts, subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for stopping by!

For us, the insanely interested, there is never a shortage of ideas. And after my earlier post on ideas you probably have decided to act on your ideas and not hold back anymore.

But there is still one more question blocking the way between you and a succesfull project: How do you know which of your ideas you should pick and run with?

I don’t have a definitive answer to that question so I brought in the experts and let them answer. Here’s what they said:

Joshua Clanton

Joshua is a web designer and blogger who writes about creativity, design, productivity and entrepreneurship. His projects consist mainly of web sites, blog themes, and inspiring blog posts.

I ask myself the following questions:

  • Which ideas do I have the resources (time, money, knowledge, etc.) to begin implementing now?
  • Which of those will produce the greatest reward? (Reward being understood in the broadest sense.)
  • If I don’t have the resources to implement an idea now, is it worth the effort to try to gain those resources, or is it something I should put on the someday/maybe list?

David Heinemeier Hansson

David is best known as the father of Ruby on Rails, one of today’s hottest web development frameworks. He is also a partner and developer at 37Signals (Basecamp, Backpack, Highrise), the company that coined the term “opinionated software“. David also writes a personal blog called Loud Thinking.

I work on ideas that I want most to see most come alive. If there’s competition between ideas that I’d like equally to see come alive, I’ll do the easiest.

On a side note, I don’t believe what stands between a good idea and success is merely implementation. Before Google, there were tons of search engines. Before Facebook, there were tons of social networks. The difference is rarely first to market, but execution. A good idea implemented badly — with badly defined as “not what the market wanted at that time, at that price” — is unlikely to make rich and famous.

Skellie

Skellie is a top class blogger from down under. Her first blog, Skelliewag.org has become an authority in the field of blogging in just a few months’ time. With her second blog, Anywired, it took her only five days to reach 1,100 RSS subscribers.

When I have an array of ideas, I ask five questions for each of them:

1. What will the idea help me do?
2. What is needed to make the idea a reality?
3. Do I have enough motivation to execute the idea?
4. Do I have enough time to make the idea a reality?
5. Will this idea impact on my other projects?

I generally evaluate ideas by comparing their individual answers to these questions. I think it’s essential to evaluate ideas based on how they’ll impact on you and the world, rather than in terms of how attractive they seem in the abstract.

Shane Pearlman

Together with his friend Peter Chester, Shane runs a consulting company called Shane & Peter, Inc. that brings together a community of independent contractors and mitigates their services to a series of Fortune 500 companies. Right now Shane is in the middle of starting a new venture - which makes his answer even more interesting:

1) Does it line up with my personal goals, beliefs and definition of happiness?
2) What problem does it solve?
3) What trends play a role - what is the industry timing?
4) Who is on the team - are there people with success who have a vested interest?

I have a list of things that I want to accomplish with my life, a list of beliefs about how I want to have an impact and a personal definition of happiness (that I am just starting to work on). Any time I look at an idea I first ask myself if this get me one step closer to my personal dreams and definition of happiness. Could be the best idea in the world but if it doesn’t do that, then I probably won’t stick with it anyways, so I’ll let someone else tackle that.

So when I look at an idea, I digg deep and ask myself if we really are solving a problem, if the timing in the industry is right and who will join me on the adventure. If all three click, then I know this is it and I commit myself - heart and soul.

And because Shane found the question so interesting, he also wrote a blog post of his own on this topic: Picking The Right Idea.

Deron Sizemore

Deron is a web designer, web publisher, blogger and serial internet entrepreneur living in Lexington, Kentucky. His recent projects include his blog, Random Jabber and a web design inspiration site called nice {stylesheet;}.

That’s a very good question and one that I never really have pondered. For me, I guess it’s all about the ideas that excite me the most (as far as developing and launching a website). If I have an idea and I’m just not really all that excited about it, I probably won’t go forward with it or I’ll put it on the back burner for a later date until I get the projects that I see as more important finished. A lot of it depends on how saturated the niche is too. If there are a ton of people doing the same thing, it’s much harder to make an impact. Your effort is probably served better focusing on another project where there less competition.

The main thing for me is just not being scared or intimidated of my ideas. I used to have ideas and would find every reason under the sun not to develop them. Now, I just go with it and see what happens.

Inspired by the interview, Deron also wrote a post of his own: So You Have Dozens Of Ideas - How Do You Decide Which Ones To Implement?

Mike Hudack

Mike is the CEO and founder of blip.tv, a video sharing service that takes a different, more focused approach to video sharing than most of its competitors: user generated series, video blogging and podcasting. Mike’s answer was short and powerful:

Gut.

Mark Hayward

Mark is a guy who isn’t afraid to follow his dreams. Over at his blog, My Tropical Escape, he shares the experiences from his biggest project so far: moving to the Carribean to start his own guest house business and to be his own boss. Check out what Mark has to say about pushing beyond fear and having a successful life!

I gave Jarkko’s question quite a bit of thought while I was walking my dogs on the beach this morning and this is what I came up with.

For me, and the ideas that I choose to pursue, come down to three things

  • desperation
  • passion
  • desire to live life on my own terms

Let me explain. When I was trying to purchase my now owned business in the Caribbean I was rejected at least ten times for the mortgage before I was finally successful. My credit was perfect but after filling out and submitting the loan application more times than I care to remember the banks would determine that I did not have enough up front capital.

After being let down on so many occasions your question (thanks Jarkko!) actually made me think, “how in the heck did I continue to pursue this business idea in the face of a hopeless situation?”

Upon reflection, I realized that I was in a desperate situation (i.e. I disliked my job and I loathed working for other people). However, this “contained desperation” only served to fuel my passion (to be my own boss) even more. So, when the going got tough I had the motivation to fill out just one more mortgage application, or speak to one more banker.

All of the above, of course, being fed by my never ending quest to Live Life On My Own Terms!

Petri Purho

Petri is a game developer best known for his monthly experimental game projects. Right now he is in the middle of polishing a bigger scale game production, Crayon Physics Deluxe (I had a chance to try the game a few weeks ago, and now I can’t wait for it to be released). To read more of Petri’s thoughts, check out the interview I had with him back in September.

Funny thing, I actually also came up with the idea social bookmarking. And I did an small implementation of it and used it myself to keep my bookmarks in order. It never finished the UI on it so I never publicly announced it.

Actually I don’t spend that much time thinking which idea I should implement. Making a game a month I’ve come to the conclusion that a good idea doesn’t equal a good game. Some of my worst ideas have turned out to be my best games. So instead of pondering on what idea to implement I’d advice to create quick prototypes of any ideas you’ve had. Usually you’ll be so much wiser about the idea after a quick and dirty prototype. And after the prototype you’ll know if it’s worth implementing or not.

Naomi Dunford

Naomi is one of the rising stars of the blogging world. On her blog, IttyBiz, she shares her adventures in the wonderful world of small business, as well as the occasional lessons learned on wine boxes and tattoo spelling mistakes.

I come from a family of entrepreneurs. My dad was the serial type, starting a business just to see if it could be done, then selling when it became profitable and starting over. My mom was more conservative about it, but she still had great ideas. I was surrounded by business ideas growing up. Based on my own sketchy history and 50-odd years combined from my parents, here’s what I’ve come up with.

If it sounds so ridiculous that even your closest friends and loved ones think you’re an idiot, you’re probably onto something.

Most people are horrifically uncreative. They want the world to be the way it’s always been. That’s all well and good for the people who design government forms, but it doesn’t work for entrepreneurs. If you’re absolutely hog wild for an idea and everyone else hates it, go with that one.

Benzi Ronen

Benzi is an entrepreneur at heart, and a guy with an exciting work history: Currently he works as Vice President of User Interaction at SAP. Before joining SAP he co-founded and was CEO of a company called Octago, and before that a product manager at both Microsoft and Netscape. Benzi also maintains a blog called Journey Of An Entrepreneur.

First from the entrepreneur’s perspective – what is their dream job? I wrote about this exactly in my blog last week (titled “Finding your Dream Job”). Take a look. Ultimately, if the entrepreneur doesn’t find their dream job within their venture it will fail (or they will find themselves replaced). The only thing you can’t outsource is motivation. So if the entrepreneur doesn’t find a home (or their dream job) in their venture it is doomed from the start.

Second is the validity for the venture idea. This is more of a rigorous business analysis that combines:

  1. Find an upswing trend in the market and ride it. It is so much easier to ride a wave then paddle against the current. Both can be done but you need to be perfect to paddle against the wave. There is much more room for hiccups and failures along the way if you ride a wave.
  2. Find a niche where you can differentiate quickly and enables growth to other niches in the future
  3. Find the angle (specialization) where you think you have the expertise or can aggregate the expertise (i.e. team & partners) to be the best in your niche. This can be technology, it can be know how, it can be a channel advantage, reputation/brand, etc.
  4. Find something that the core founding team can get passionate about. This overlaps a bit with the Dream Job aspect above. But here I mean it in a broader sense. What is the goal of the company? Is it something that the core founding team can get everyone else motivated about. Some people get really passionate about starting online casinos. They have the ability to sell big $$$ to people they recruit. Some people get passionate about saving the environment even if it means not making any money. The point is that the founding team needs to be emotional about the topic.

You

Now you have heard what these ten experts had to say (Huge thanks to everyone who participated - and to Shane for getting me in touch with Mike and Benzi!) and it’s your time to step up on the scene!

What is your answer to the question: How do you know which of your ideas you should pick and run with?

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11 Responses to “Expert Advice On Picking The Right Projects”

  • James Chartrand - Web Content Writer Tips Says:
    January 25th, 2008 at 1:37 am

    Wow, great names up here and I was interested in reading their comments and thoughts.

    Which ideas should I pick and run with? Ones that feel right to me, personally, and fit well with my values. Every idea I have, I think about how it makes me feel. Do I want to be this person? Do I want to promote this or try that? Will I sleep better at night because it was the right thing to do or will I feel like I’m just after a fast buck?

    I bounce ideas that seem to fit off Harry. If he can find something wrong with it, he will, trust me - and thankfully, he’s honest and tells me. The ideas that fit with him and his values are the ones that are right for both of us - and for our business.

  • Deron Sizemore Says:
    January 25th, 2008 at 1:56 am

    Thanks so much for the opportunity Jarkko. I had a great time thinking about this and write a post of my own on my blog. With this post, I’ve found some other sites that I had never visited before too, so that’s great!

    Wonderful idea. Lets do it again sometime.

    Thanks again

  • Joshua Clanton - Design for the WEB Says:
    January 25th, 2008 at 2:22 am

    * jaw drops as Joshua observes his answers sitting next to David’s *

    Great question, Jarkko. Some great answers in there as well, especially the points about making sure that it is something that you are passionate about and fits with your life goals. For me, I guess that isn’t something that I have to be so conscious of, because typically by the time that rises to the level of consideration, I’ve already answered in the affirmitive.

  • Harrison McLeod - Web Content Writer Tips Says:
    January 25th, 2008 at 3:55 pm

    True, choosing a project for James and I is about personal values and what feels right, but I take it a step further and ask “How will this project further our business?”

    I have a ton of projects in my head and I’m sure they’d be great, however, not all of them are beneficial to moving the business forward. A project is more than just a project, it has to earn it’s keep in order to get my stamp of approval.

  • shane Says:
    January 25th, 2008 at 8:03 pm

    I think life is trying to send me a message. Or maybe you just finally begin to notice the messages that were always there but you weren’t focused on. It seems that the message of implementation over idea has been repeatedly beating me over the head.

    Thanks Jarkko

  • Mark Says:
    January 26th, 2008 at 11:58 pm

    Hi Jarkko - nicely done! Thank you for letting me participate :)

  • Jarkko Says:
    January 27th, 2008 at 12:34 pm

    Thanks for the comments, guys!

    @James: Having someone you trust to bounce your ideas with sure helps!

    @Deron: Thanks for participating! I had a blast as well, so I’m sure I’ll do something similar again the next time I have an important question in mind.

    @Joshua: Thanks for participating!

    @Harrison: Good point! While a project can be great in itself, it’s still a means to get to a goal. Or could it be that a project in itself could already be a goal?

    @shane: It’s a powerful feeling when you notice life sending a message to you. I’m glad to have played a (small) part in it :)

    @Mark: Thanks for participating!

  • Sami Laakkonen Says:
    January 29th, 2008 at 12:02 am

    Thanks for the great post. I really enjoyed all the different answers to the given subject. Made me think a project in a whole new perspective.

    Definitely going to try Petri’s advice on the prototypes and let the project (or people) itself decide what is a good project and what isn’t.

  • Benzi Says:
    February 1st, 2008 at 7:21 pm

    Hi Jarkko,

    Great blog and nice to virtually meet. I ended up elaborating on this topic in my blog. Take care.

  • Scott Clark Says:
    March 3rd, 2008 at 9:21 pm

    The Seth Godin book named “The Dip” is a 2-hour read about this exact subject. It was very helpful to me.

  • Jarkko Says:
    March 4th, 2008 at 11:59 pm

    Yeah, I listened to the book as an audio version some time ago. Quality stuff - just like about anything Seth Godin has written. :)

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