Build things progressively

Whenever I work on a new project, whether for myself or with someone else, one of my favorite moments is always the blank canvas.

A blank canvas allows for unfiltered inspiration right from the beginning: endless possibilities in what to do, and more interestingly, how to do it.

The “how” question is key.

Many people prefer not to take the initiative of starting with a blank canvas because of action paralysis: uncertainty in whatever the process may be. Note: a process they are fearful of, but have not even started.

Everyone has their unique way of working, and tapping into that is key.

Doing what comes naturally to you will deliver not just an end result that is yours, but also a working process that you will enjoy without feeling stressed and cumbersome.

Build: start with a block, an idea, a tool, and to just keep moving forward by adding one more block at a time.

Adding these blocks together, first define the scope of the project.

When doing or building something, ask and answer high-level questions like:

1. What does it do?
2. Why should it do that?
3. What does it not do?
4. And why should it not do that?

Knowing what is a “go” and a “no-go” offers the clarity to keep building ideas on top of each other, in an order that comes naturally to whatever the idea is at the time (intuition).

Figure out what makes increasingly more sense along the way: just stick to the truths you already know.

For example, for a digital education platform, you could answer questions like:

1. What it does: It educates people on the dangers of drunk driving.
2. It does this: Because it cares about people’s safety. It also wants to promote the city council of Melbourne.
3. What it doesn’t: It doesn’t act in an aggressive way. Furthermore, it also does not discourage general alcohol use: only when driving.
4. It doesn’t do this: Because we don’t want to discourage people from a true, honest, caring, human message.

Answering these few simple questions offers guidelines.

Focus on questions that are guide rails, like on a road.

Pieces of content, images, questions and answers, etc., that fit within these guide rails can always be worked on, and iteratively experimented with to grow into bigger ideas.

Creating this foundation for yourself and answering simple high-level questions gives you a starting point.

After that, the other questions will naturally work themselves out the more refined you go, but only intuitively and organically if you keep progressively asking them, almost linearly, according to their relative niche-value to the specific topic you’re handling at the time.

Build progressively: start high-level and continue moving. In whatever directions, but between the guide rails.