The Art of Iterating
Iterating is a powerful tool to create amazing work products. From presentations to emails; and ideas to business models. If you know how to iterate there is nothing you cannot achieve.
I have outlined four rules to make you better at iterating instantly, with real world examples and practical tips. I am going to be sharing ‘iterative’ updates about a new business idea my friends and I are working, called Beersbee Elite.
Benefits when you iterate effectively:
Work smarter, not harder
Receive rapid feedback (to improve quicker)
Prevent perfection from getting in the way of greatness
Create high quality ‘stuff’
Four Rules to Iterating
For the purposes of this post, when I refer to iterating it can reference an email, presentation, or business idea; although this can be applied to other aspects of ‘stuff’.
Rule #1: Just get started
Create a starting point and it does not need to be ‘ideal’. Write out your outline/idea on anything. Napkins, old receipts or your phone. If it’s a presentation it can be an outline. If it’s an email it can be a rough draft. If it’s a business idea, it can be a bulleted list of tasks or ideas. To get better at iterating just get started. You will have time to refine and polish anything after this step. Below are additional considerations:
Pick a medium to get started on (paper, white board, google doc, phone notes)
Spend at least 20 minutes getting started
Throw all ideas out there (be bold, no idea is bad)
Schedule the next time you will iterate
Rule #2: Set a Deadline
Setting a deadline is especially important for iterating so you don’t take longer than necessary to complete the goal AND so you have enough time to iterate. Pending the task/project you may need to iterate once, or several times. Time between iterations can be as short as one hour to a few days. Manage your time and plan accordingly. Below are general estimates of how I iterate certain types of projects:
Email: 1 – 2 times
Presentation: 3 – 4 times
Business Idea: always evolving
Rule #3: Don’t be afraid to reset
Have you ever worked on something for a long time and then realize it is not what you wanted? Tear it down. Reset. Don’t try to force using something if it is not what you intended. While it is not ideal to reset; it will deliver a far better result when done right. Use the guidelines below before you make that decision:
Don’t tear something down too soon: Things may need a little more time to marinate before making sense. This is especially true for ideas. Make a thoughtful decision before resetting on your project. Give yourself time to think it over (but don’t overthink it!).
Don’t wait too long to reset: It can be scary to reset. But it can be necessary. If you are hitting roadblocks or not getting the results you want, don’t delay the decision. While it may not be the ‘end of the world’ if you delay the reset, you will end up wasting time.
Rule #4: Keep it simple
It is easy to get caught up overthinking or over-engineering a project or task. The simple answer is: don’t. Less is more. For a business idea this can mean starting a simple website like a blog, or making a simple prototype. For a presentation, it can mean three slides instead of ten. Like ‘just getting started’, below are questions you can ask yourself to help you keep it simple:
What am I trying to say?
Is all this information needed?
Is there a structure to the message?
Are the requested actions clear and concise?
Who is my audience?
Presentation
What am I trying to say?
What is the talk track?
Does the talk track flow?
What is the key takeaway for each slide?
Business Idea
What things should I do to get started?
Is there anything I can do to test/validate this idea?
What research can I perform?
What’s my pitch?
Real-Life Example
Beersbee Elite | Part 1 – Idea Stage
While attending a bachelor party in the Poconos; my group of friends decided to dedicate the weekend to yard games; one of them being a game called Beersbee (also known as Polish Horseshoes). The version we were playing used to wooden poles with a piece of wood nailed at the top; where a beer bottle is placed. The objective of the name is to knock the bottle off the pole to the ground using a frisbee (2 points). If the frisbee hits the ground too, it’s a bonus 1 point.
After dozens of games, the idea of making a high-quality wood beersbee was is born. Aspects of how the poles should be made are tossed around. By the end of the weekend, a plan to do some R&D and make a solid prototype. We have officially started iterating a new idea.