{"id":7237,"date":"2015-11-10T07:56:05","date_gmt":"2015-11-10T06:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/?p=7237"},"modified":"2023-11-10T15:15:56","modified_gmt":"2023-11-10T14:15:56","slug":"the-project-plateau-the-quicksand-of-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/the-project-plateau-the-quicksand-of-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Project Plateau: The Quicksand of Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ideas are exciting. Thinking up new ideas and working on them gives a lot of energy. However the further you develop your idea, the harder it gets to stay\u00a0committed. There comes a\u00a0moment when your\u00a0excitement will turn into frustration, simply because you are\u00a0primarily engaged in\u00a0checking things off your to-do list. This is the phase\u00a0where most ideas (even great ones) are abandoned by their creator.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In his must-read book “Making Ideas Happen<\/a>” Scott Belsky describes\u00a0this stage\u00a0as the “Project Plateau”. A\u00a0well known moment\u00a0in time when the execution of an\u00a0idea swallows so much of your time that you lose all your enthusiasm and are looking for a way out. Since there\u00a0is almost always another idea lurking in the background, it’s easy to leave and work on that other\u00a0exciting project. Although this will again result in a\u00a0high energy and commitment zone it will also cause us to lose focus.\u00a0The result: a plateau filled with skeletons of abandoned ideas\u00a0and little or no\u00a0executed ideas.<\/p>\n

\"project-plateau\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Project Plateau \u00a9\u00a0Scott Belsky<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is in our nature to continuously come\u00a0up with new ideas and to work on several projects at the same time. It goes without saying\u00a0that\u00a0this\u00a0is time consuming and unproductive. It\u00a0makes it very hard to\u00a0finish projects and to realise innovation.<\/p>\n

The truth is: if you want to be a true innovator you will have\u00a0to bite the bullet. Execution and implementation are\u00a0hard work and\u00a0demand a lot of discipline.<\/p>\n

There are a few things you can do to stay committed to a project.<\/p>\n

1 ) Get Started
\n<\/strong>If you have an idea, go do it. Waiting is\u00a0deadly for all creative ideas. If\u00a0your idea is truly\u00a0remarkable you have to execute it right away. Don’t make excuses. The longer you wait, the harder it will get.<\/p>\n

To quote Mark Twain:\u00a0\u201cThe secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and starting on the first one.\u201d<\/p>\n

2\u00a0) <\/strong>Make Progress Visible<\/strong>
\nWork in sprints and make sure that you always end up with a result. (A prototype, business model canvas, visualisation, presentation, pitch, user interface, customer journey\u00a0etc.) It should be clear to anyone -your team, supervisors and yourself- what has been achieved so far. Let everybody see & celebrate the small victories.\u00a0Make sure that all steps that have been taken are visible somewhere. (Use a Scrum Board or keep a history wall with all your finished checklists. )<\/p>\n

3\u00a0) <\/strong>Kill Your Darlings
\n<\/strong>If you want to be productive, feedback is\u00a0important.\u00a0Always stay honest with yourself when it comes to the future\u00a0of your ideas. New ideas are always fun, yet once\u00a0you realise that your project has\u00a0no future you should kill it without hesitation. An idea that has no added value to you or your customer does not deserve your time and energy.<\/p>\n

Killing the project will\u00a0supply you with time and will help you to focus on the important stuff.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Like this article?
\n<\/strong><\/em>If you enjoyed reading this article, feel free to share it with your network by hitting one of the\u00a0buttons below. This way other people can benefit from the article as well.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Project Plateau; that moment in time when the execution of an idea swallows so much of your time that you lose all your enthusiasm and are looking for a way out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22893,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,197],"tags":[627,626,196,624,625,623],"class_list":["post-7237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-implementation","category-innovation","tag-idea-execution","tag-implementation","tag-innovation","tag-innovation-killer","tag-innovation-quicksand","tag-project-plateau"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Project Plateau: The Quicksand of Innovation - HatRabbits<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Be wary of the Project Plateau. 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