Ask anyone who’s shipped meaningful work and they’ll tell you the same thing: ideas are a fraction of what matters. The devil is in the execution. Execution is where you pay the real price for your projects. Time, money, and resources… projects require an investment. Which is why it’s critical you learn how to prioritize your projects. For many project managers, prioritizing projects is easier said than done.
Back in the mid-90s, just as Netscape Navigator was giving us our first look at what the visual internet could be, web design came in two flavors. There was the ultra basic stuff. Text on a page, maybe a masthead graphic of some sort. Nothing sophisticated. It often looked like traditional letterhead, or a printed newsletter, but now on the screen. Interactions were few, if any, but perhaps a couple links tied a nascent site together. And there was the other extreme.
There’s no course in business school that teaches how to run a business with your wife. Marketing. Finance. Supply Chain. Law. Most of my business school experience taught “Business” with a capital “B” — the suit and tie variety. So, when my wife and I launched a business 10 years later, I was unprepared and uneducated on the challenges we would face.
Most plans are useless. A typical 5-year plan is nothing more than a collection of guesses. And when these guesses turn out to be incorrect (as guesses often are), companies are forced to choose between their original plan and what makes sense today. That said, there’s one plan that no company should ever ignore… The 30-60-90 Day Onboarding Plan.
Entrepreneurship is growing. In 2021, 5.5 million small businesses were created, a million more than in 2020 and a 54% increase over 2019. As basic supply and demand often goes, there has also been an uptick in businesses designed to help entrepreneurs succeed. Which means the digital space is flooded with experts, gurus, and coaches all claiming to help you avoid the challenges of entrepreneurship. The problem? Everyone talks about the same challenges with the same solutions.
