On the Brink of Missing a Deadline
Week 23 of Founding Typogram
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In the last post of 2021, I mentioned that the first goal of 2022 is to launch a pre-order campaign of Typogram.
Launch pre-order of Typogram in February 2022
The project serves multiple purposes:
Our current homepage is barebone and confusing. We got a lot of feedback that people don’t understand what Typogram is after visiting our homepage. It needs a total revamp to better introduce what we are building and why it is exciting and unique.
We have developed our app to a good stage and want to showcase its key features to attract potential users and validate our ideas through pre-order. We have done a lot of private user testing. However, the best way to validate is the “wallet test. ”
We need momentum to accelerate us through the finish line of product launch. Having paying customers waiting would put a fire under our seats and cut off unnecessary churning and procrastination.
I quoted four weeks to finish the project:
Week 1: Design the landing page, create an outline for product video
Week 2: Prepare the Typogram app for video recording, fill any gaps based on the video outline
Week 3: Write the video script, shoot the video
Week 4: Develop the landing page and launch
The planning is ideal, but the reality is not. I originally planned to launch on Feb 22, which is today! One week into the project, I realized I under-estimated how long it would take to design the landing page and pushed out the deadline for another week to next Tuesday. In The Taste-Skill Gap, I shared my struggle to design the landing page.
Now I am again on the brink of missing the new deadline. Last week, I was supposed to finish recording the product video, which is the essential part of the launch. The video should explain our product in detail, showcase the features we have developed thus far, and convince people that Typogram is worthy to pre-order.
So much is on the line with this product video; it has to be perfect. Quickly, this mindset stopped me from writing anything close to a video script, let alone creating storyboards and recording videos. I struggled for two days and ended up taking up the next task instead — developing the landing page. I happily escaped for a little while, finishing up and refining the landing page development. I am officially at the last week of the project, and I find myself … still refining the already finished landing page in an attempt to escape from the reality that I have a video to make.
I reflect on how the project went so far:
Week 1: Design the landing page
Design is my profession. I fall into the perfectionist trap because of it. I have baggage that anything I put out needs to reflect my skill level.
My skill level on the task: High
Week 2: Prepare the Typogram app for video recording, fill any gaps based on the video outline
App development went super smoothly, and I put in some proud work I can’t wait to share. I am a self-taught programmer; my programming skills are OK but not as good as my design skills. It somehow saved me from falling into the perfectionist trap when it comes to programming.
My skill level on the task: Intermediate
Week 3: Write the video script, shoot the video
My skill level in video production is low. When the product video is this important, it further increased my fear for this challenging task that I am already short on skills and triggered my worst enemy — procrastination.
My skill level on the task: Low
Week 4: Develop the landing page and launch
Developing a landing page is something I enjoy doing and am good at. I get a chance to further refine my design in CSS. I blazed through landing page development with no mental burden and was having a lot of fun.
Skill level: Intermediate to High
In retrospect, when I have an intermediate level of skills on the tasks, the tasks are finished smoothly and on time. When my sill levels fall on the extreme ends of the spectrum, too high or too low, the tasks take too long or go very poorly.
Have you ever missed a deadline? How do you cope with it and improve for the next time?
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