General Interest
Do It Right Instead of Again
By Al LeBlanc

If Only I Had Known

I awoke one morning in a far away time
And found the past repeating without reason or rhyme.
Truly are we doomed to do everything again?
Is life but not a game where we continually spin
Only to revisit every measure of all past sin?
Had I only known the future in mine eye of my mind
I would have strived harder to not see this for a second
time.
But now that I am here let me learn from the past
And complete the task at hand and this time for the last.


I have been around in small business realm for many years.
In my youth I was no less impatient than the average soul.
Everything needed to be done now because I was so impatient
to enjoy the results. I wanted the income and the
recognition for my creativity, rightfully so.

Unfortunately the results were many times less than
satisfactory primarily because of that haste. Even the most
skilled among us who have elevated our skills to the point
where we can function on auto pilot find ourselves going back
over and over to change or tweak this and that. In today's
fast paced world people have put a premium on speed. A
person who is able to deliver the goods with both accuracy
and speed is cherished indeed in most circles.

As I dwell on the topic it comes to me that one of the great
tests of true quality is for something or someone to be able
to stand the test of time. Do you think sufficient time
given to the creative process would yield results that would
otherwise last a more satisfactory period of time? In
actuality it is a fine balance.

A process at too great a rate of speed will be dotted with
errors of omission and foolish over-sights, whereas a
process done too slowly will lose the enthusiasm of the
participants involved in the development process. True
creativity requires a certain level of stress to properly
stimulate ingenuity in areas of problem solving and design
but there must be somebody on the team that forces the hand
of the impatient to "what if" every facet of the project.

Yes, we need to launch the project and get some income
generating but then again what is the true cost of a project
which fails in the early stages because the perceived return
never materialized from a lack of patience and discipline to
do it right on every level. Errors will occur in all
endeavors, but why contribute to the list when patience and
discipline in the development stages would make a
difference.

1- State the goal and vision
2- Build an autonomous team with that vision in mind
3- Revisit the vision throughout the creative process
4- Have an outside antagonist not involved in the project
challenge results as routine
5- Have regular "what-if" sessions
6- Make it better than it has to be in all facets
7- Dedication will be served by regular encouragement,
appreciation, an recognition.
8- Test all results before release in every conceivable
venue
9- Under promote just enough to make people's surprises up

In this rush rush-rush world of templates and pre-packaged
solutions too many people confuse painting by the numbers
with true creativity. That is why so many Internet projects
fall by the wayside. Flash and fluff grab the limelight as
we are amazed at the colors and spinning wheels of the
pretty sites, but the shallowness of the ideas and lack of
true vision relegate them quickly to the scrap pile.

For a project to truly succeed there must be a dreamer
within the mix who has a vision for a project that can truly
enhance people's lives and make a positive contribution to
the quality of those lives. "Just for the money" is OK if a
quick economic death is part of the expected results. A
quality idea can be adjusted to changing technologies in
many cases. Make the excellence of your work become a
recognizable signature.



copyright 2001; Al LeBlanc
www.boomerjournals.com

Permission to reprint granted with credits and notice to the
author.