Let limitations guide you to creative solutions
There’s never enough to go around. Not enough time. Not enough money. Not enough people.
That’s a good thing.
Instead of freaking out about these constraints, embrace them. Let them guide you. Constraints drive innovation and force focus. Instead of trying to remove them, use them to your advantage.
When we were building Basecamp, we had plenty of limitations. We had:
- A design firm to run
- Existing client work
- A 7-hour time difference (David was doing the programming in Denmark, the rest of us were in the States)
- A small team
- No outside funding
We felt the “not enough” blues. So we kept our plate small. That way we could only put so much on it. We took big tasks and broke them up into small bits that we tackled one at a time. We moved step by step and prioritized as we went along.
That forced us to come up with creative solutions. We lowered our cost of change by always building less software. We gave people just enough features to solve their own problems their own way — and then we got out of the way. The time difference and distance between us made us more efficient in our communication. Instead of meeting in person, we communicated almost exclusively via im and email which forced us to get to the point quickly.
Constraints are often advantages in disguise. Forget about venture capital, long release cycles, and quick hires. Instead, work with what you have.
Embracing constraints - Getting real
Put constraints in place to help teams create value. Some examples are:
- We only want to put 3 days into this, then test it with customers
- Customers are complaining about this, where could we do less and still solve their issues
- How could we solve this if we only add one page to our application