The Art of Product

50: Doing the Hard Things First

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Derrick continues to reinvent himself with his new product, Level, and sporting a, “I work for myself beard.” He took a vacation to canoe and camp instead of code. It’s always a refreshing experience for him to get away from work from time to time. Now, Derrick is back to writing code and organizing tasks in Levelland.

Ben also went on vacation, but before doing so, he realized no sales for Tuple had come in that week. So, he made an effort to call prospective clients and was able to sell six annual licenses. Now, like Derrick, he is working on things that are hard to achieve. But if they can make them happen, then they will be really good.

Today’s Topics Include:

  • If feeling overwhelmed, write everything down, break into chunks, and organize them
  • Find a visible way to make sure you are making progress and staying on track
  • Ben wants to talk to other CEOs of small companies to find out what are they focused on and paying attention to because there is so much to do
  • Don’t beat up yourself over mistakes, just keep making progress
  • AoP podcast is like therapy and leaning on each other for support during this journey; staying sane during the new company/product process
  • Prioritize Properly: Get sleep or you’re operating at a fraction at what you could be
  • Break up your day and work schedule into 2-3 hour segments; if you need to get something done, spend less time doing it
  • Teams contacted Ben about participating in the Tuple alpha; spots are still available, so contact him
  • Company or founder retreats are a way to get creative, think outside the box, and bond over shared challenges and struggles
  • Ben’s team, Sam Deane, including has been cranking away on its native app to create the initial set-up, layout, and architecture
  • Ben tweeted about how to get up to speed on Mac OS development; considered corporate overlord’s job to create education and training, so it doesn’t get done
  • Looking back on a year if AoP: Derrick overcame his fear of the microphone, and they’re keeping it real; humbled and happy that people find it useful

    • Links and resources:

    Derrick Reimer Website

    Derrick Reimer on Twitter
    Ben Orenstein Website
    Ben Orenstein on Twitter
    Level
    Tuple
    Hill Charts on Basecamp
    Trello
    Drip
    Rob Walling
    Sketch
    Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots
    Microconf

    ...more
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    The Art of ProductBy Ben Orenstein and Derrick Reimer
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