Questioning an Idea
I’ve had this thought in my mind the past few days and just felt like writing something out and maybe getting others thoughts on it. One thing that I’ve been thinking about is wondering when to move forward with an idea on the web. How do you know if it’s a good idea, and not just a waste of time?
We read about a lot of mediocre products on the web at sites like Techcrunch, and many of them seem to provide no real value. This seems to be a big challenge on having an idea work on the web. I guess one of the positives is that it is pretty low cost to get something up and running, as compared to other industries.
For the past few months I’ve been thinking on this idea with a colleague, and to us, the idea sounds great. The suggestions going back and forth have been really productive, but again, to us it sounds good but how do we really know if it’s a good idea? Will it provide value to those using it? Is it even possible to measure value beforehand?
After the initial excitement of coming up with an idea, you really start to question everything, and the unfortunate part is that momentum starts to die out a little. Is that normal?
I would imagine others have experienced the same kind of thing, but it’s just something I’ve been thinking about quite a bit lately. Should I be taking more of the attitude to just got for it no matter what, or should I know the value this will provide (if any) to it’s users?
5 Comments
My roommate used to own the domain unfinishedproduct.com. I have so many half built templates, domains that I’ve never used, and ideas that I don’t have time to follow up on.
I think having a clear strategy, plan, and timeline can really help a project not only get finished, but get started too!
Best of luck!
Kelly, before starting those projects, how did you feel about the value side of what you were designing/building? Aside from time, did any other factors cause you to stop work on those?
The honest answer I think is there’s just no way of knowing whether it will work or not — if you choose to go ahead, some of your doubts will almost certainly prove to be unfounded, and some things you were sure abut will turn out dead wrong.
I’ve started a few business now (mainly offline), and at least one of those I would have canned in the first few months if I’d been doing it for someone else — as it was I didn’t feel able to and so continued (it eventually became very successful).
So, ultimately, go with what you believe in, and hang on, it’ll be a bumpy ride.
Sometimes, to quote that all-too-timely movie, you just have to say, “WTF?” and jump in head first.
An idea, a notion, whatever… if you have all the required factors with the sole exception of the time, then make the time and get it out of your system. I am not a huge proponent of the positive thought-hooplah school of logic, but certainly a fan of removing negative factors.
Sitting around saying, “what if i had…” definitely qualifies as a negative in my book.
Joe, you raise a good point, however it’s not that I was trying to have a 100% thought through plan, and waiting for the stars to align. I more kept asking the question “what value does this have” and not having that rock solid answer bugs me.