Constraints are often advantages in disguise. Forget about venture capital, long release cycles, and quick hires. Instead, work with what you have.
Notes from some where.
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HOW TO HARNESS THE POWER OF CONSTRAINTS
Those are some pretty compelling case studies into the benefits of constraints. How can you harness the power of constraints in your own work? Here are some strategies to try:
SET A TIMERIf a project seems too daunting to even know where to start, try setting a timer for 30 minutes or so and forcing yourself to simply dig in wherever you can. This strategy is similar to the Pomodoro Technique, a time management method that breaks down work into intervals (traditionally 25 minutes in length) separated by short breaks. Bursts of focus with frequent breaks can improve your mental agility.
COMMIT TO JUST A SMALL TASK (THAT CONTRIBUTES TO A LARGER GOAL)Did you know that 88 percent of all New Year’s resolutions end in failure? It’s because when we make a large, life-changing goal, we tax our brains too much to be able to achieve it. Apply a constraint here by focusing on smaller changes that can add up to better focus on the overall goal. When you make a goal, break it down as far as you can, to the simplest task possible.
SINGLE-TASK UNTIL IT HURTSAlthough multitasking makes us feel productive and seems like a skill worthy of envy, it’s really not so great after all. One useful constraint to try for greater productivity is extreme single-tasking. Here’s how Buffer’s COO Leo Widrich does it online:
One strategy I put in place is something I call singletab browsing. I would limit myself to only keep one browser tab open whenever I am working. That way I had to really prioritize what the most important task was that I had to work on.
LIMIT YOUR TEAMTake a cue from Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, who famously coined the "two pizza teams" rule: if a team can’t be fed with two pizzas, it’s too big. Bezos employed constraints because he wanted a decentralized company where independent ideas would prevail. You can do the same with this simple constraint—adding more people is one of the most common productivity traps that you can fall into.
GIVE YOURSELF DEADLINESWhen now-Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer was at Google, she was a big believer in creative limitations when it came to development, often capping prototyping time for a new feature. "We often can get a sense of just how good a new concept is if we only prototype for a single day or week," she said. "In the case of the Toolbar beta, several key features (custom buttons, shared bookmarks) were tried out in under a week. In fact, during the brainstorming phase, we came up with about five times as many ‘key features.’ Most were discarded after a week of prototyping. Since only 1 in every 5 to 10 ideas works out, the strategy of limiting the time we have to prove that an idea works allows us to try out more ideas, increasing our odds of success."
FOCUS YOUR CONTENTThis is one limitation we’ve been experimenting with lately at Buffer. With the new Buffer for Business really connecting with customers, we’re starting to double down on social media, blogging and other marketing content and focusing a little less on our lifehacking content in order to create what helps our audience the most. (What do you think of that? Let us know!)
BRAINSTORM BETTERCome up with better ideas by not brainstorming. Instead, try debating ideas, fleshing out an idea before bringing it to a group and other, more specific ideation techniques. Starting from somewhere (even if it’s a "bad" idea!) instead of a blank slate gives you a springboard to bounce off, and having a starting point can open up new ideas and expand your creativity in other areas, rather than holding you back.
Notes from some where.
=========
HOW TO HARNESS THE POWER OF CONSTRAINTS
Those are some pretty compelling case studies into the benefits of constraints. How can you harness the power of constraints in your own work? Here are some strategies to try:
SET A TIMERIf a project seems too daunting to even know where to start, try setting a timer for 30 minutes or so and forcing yourself to simply dig in wherever you can. This strategy is similar to the Pomodoro Technique, a time management method that breaks down work into intervals (traditionally 25 minutes in length) separated by short breaks. Bursts of focus with frequent breaks can improve your mental agility.
COMMIT TO JUST A SMALL TASK (THAT CONTRIBUTES TO A LARGER GOAL)Did you know that 88 percent of all New Year’s resolutions end in failure? It’s because when we make a large, life-changing goal, we tax our brains too much to be able to achieve it. Apply a constraint here by focusing on smaller changes that can add up to better focus on the overall goal. When you make a goal, break it down as far as you can, to the simplest task possible.
SINGLE-TASK UNTIL IT HURTSAlthough multitasking makes us feel productive and seems like a skill worthy of envy, it’s really not so great after all. One useful constraint to try for greater productivity is extreme single-tasking. Here’s how Buffer’s COO Leo Widrich does it online:
One strategy I put in place is something I call singletab browsing. I would limit myself to only keep one browser tab open whenever I am working. That way I had to really prioritize what the most important task was that I had to work on.
LIMIT YOUR TEAMTake a cue from Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, who famously coined the "two pizza teams" rule: if a team can’t be fed with two pizzas, it’s too big. Bezos employed constraints because he wanted a decentralized company where independent ideas would prevail. You can do the same with this simple constraint—adding more people is one of the most common productivity traps that you can fall into.
GIVE YOURSELF DEADLINESWhen now-Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer was at Google, she was a big believer in creative limitations when it came to development, often capping prototyping time for a new feature. "We often can get a sense of just how good a new concept is if we only prototype for a single day or week," she said. "In the case of the Toolbar beta, several key features (custom buttons, shared bookmarks) were tried out in under a week. In fact, during the brainstorming phase, we came up with about five times as many ‘key features.’ Most were discarded after a week of prototyping. Since only 1 in every 5 to 10 ideas works out, the strategy of limiting the time we have to prove that an idea works allows us to try out more ideas, increasing our odds of success."
FOCUS YOUR CONTENTThis is one limitation we’ve been experimenting with lately at Buffer. With the new Buffer for Business really connecting with customers, we’re starting to double down on social media, blogging and other marketing content and focusing a little less on our lifehacking content in order to create what helps our audience the most. (What do you think of that? Let us know!)
BRAINSTORM BETTERCome up with better ideas by not brainstorming. Instead, try debating ideas, fleshing out an idea before bringing it to a group and other, more specific ideation techniques. Starting from somewhere (even if it’s a "bad" idea!) instead of a blank slate gives you a springboard to bounce off, and having a starting point can open up new ideas and expand your creativity in other areas, rather than holding you back.