Break Fast

Imagine your goal wasn’t to get something to work, but to break it as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The assignment looks like this: You have to deliver some final process or product, but it won’t pass quality control unless it breaks ten times first, in ten different ways, with proof that you’ve fixed each of those flaws.

Changes how you think about things, right? If you want a car to pass this process, the first thing you have to do is get a (barely) working model and crash it. Then you have to examine that crash and find which things did the worst during the collision – preferably with some prior hypothesis about which parts would suffer the most.

When you’re first starting out on any new project, think this way. Don’t try to go from idea to final product quickly, and don’t expect to get there efficiently. Instead, look to break something quickly. Find the flaws intentionally. Most importantly, don’t take flaws in the initial versions to be indictments of your ability. Your goal is to find flaws, which means they aren’t failures.

Your projects – and your spirit – will be stronger.