Lately there's been a big decision that I haven't wanted to make because I'm building in public. In all honesty, these kinds of decisions are precisely why I've mostly built in private as it removes all the angst around making a practical decision feel like a public reversal. I fear that by thinking out loud too early, I set too many expectations that can't easily be changed later on when business needs require something different.
Later this summer I'm planning on my next big marketing effort for Sherpa. I've been thinking that there's one enhancement to Sherpa that, if I brought it to market, would substantially change the campaign for the better. This would close a customer-facing competitive gap and help reduce adoption objections.
It's a big deal for sure, but also takes time and won't happen overnight. Being the eternal optimist, I'd say it might take two weeks. I've learned that my first take is often way too short. Double that to four weeks to compensate for what reality always throws at you.
If I keep pushing on Outpost, there's no way to pull this off simultaneously. So the question ends up being which matters more right now? Outpost or this new enhancement to Sherpa? Outpost will still see the light of day and will shift a season from summer to fall.
The business timing makes the decision for me. It's very likely that this new feature in Sherpa will be ready to go prior to the Sherpa marketing campaign. Outpost is a new product with substantially more work in front of it, so it will absolutely not be ready in time.
Even though I hadn't planned things to play out this way, I will need to put Outpost on hold until I can close this gap in Sherpa for this summer's marketing campaign. And although it might be only a month of work, the reality is that while the campaign is in play, Outpost will at best only get small bits of my attention, if any.
This is personally frustrating because I want Outpost to come sooner. It still feels like the next chapter, just not the next move. For now, Sherpa has earned the next investment. Sometimes in order to make progress, you need to pause the work you were excited about so the product already in customers’ hands has a better shot.
Do you also wrestle with changing direction once you've already said the plan out loud?
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