I love to admit it, Rich Sloan is right.
Do all of your research diligently, assess the landscape of the market, finely define the project at hand, painstakingly lay out a time schedule, assign specific tasks to specific people, stay on top of the process with regularly scheduled meetings, set deadlines and gather feedback from team members to ensure that the schedule is realistic …
Then double everything.
It is truly amazing how things just take longer than you ever could have imagined at the outset. I think it’s because there is just no way that you can properly define it all until you’re knee deep in the midst of it. And while some people may call it “project creep” as you more deeply define the project in midstream, I feel that is just a cop out for those who want to “just get this thing done & move on”. Be careful of those people. They are not thinking in the best interests of your company.
So while the Showcase U website actually did officially launch fairly close to schedule, it still owns a “Beta” tag after 2 months of being live and we’re not yet ready to aggressively market to our target customer base.
Make certain that in all of your diligent planning, you expect the unexpected. And what may be most important, maintain your entrepreneurial positive, fighting attitude.
