What I have learnt this year

Dec 26, 2011

Table of contents:

1. 1. If something is wrong, change it
2. 2. Put it out there and keep improving it
3. 3. Don’t try and take on too much at once

Inspired by the post “What have you learnt this year” by Daniel Tenner of Founder’s Library, I decided to write my own post to reflect on the major things that I feel I’ve learnt over the past year.

1. If something is wrong, change it

The first thing I’ve learnt this year is, “if something is wrong, change it”. The major thing I changed this year was the complete re-brand of this site from Cultivatus to Culttt. I think there is an inate fear in all of us to just carry on with what we know or when a decision has been made, we feel we have to stick with it. I think I’ve finally realised in my work that, starting from scratch is often the best way of moving forward with a project. Starting from scratch allows you to start with a blank canvas and to make sure you get things right from the outset. When I was running Cultivatus, there were many problems that could only be rectified with a complete change. First get validation of your idea, then do something about it.

2. Put it out there and keep improving it

The second thing I’ve learnt is that I should just launch stuff, without fussing over the minor details. Again this website is a good example of this. When I decided to rebrand, I made the decision on the Friday night, and by the Sunday morning I had launched. The first version of this site was my first shot at how I wanted it to look. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been making changes, almost every single day to improve and tweak things, a lot of which has been based upon the feedback I wouldn’t of got if it was still sitting in development.

I’ve finally realised that it is much better to put something out there and keep working on it, than hide it away and never get round to launching it.

3. Don’t try and take on too much at once

And finally, the third thing I’ve learnt this year is to not take on too much at once. A couple of months ago I was writing 3 posts a week for Cultivatus, 7 posts a week for Pay off Wizard, developing my first major web app, Helplist and working full time. After doing this for a couple of months it dawned on me that I had taken too much on. I decided to put Pay off Wizard and Helplist on hiatus and fully concentrate on Culttt. I think I can often be over eager to get things done and I try to do too much at once. This inevitably means that things suffer because I haven’t got the time put my all into something. I think going forward, it will be far better for my projects if I just concentrate on one thing at a time.

What have you learnt this year?