How do you switch between breadth mode and depth mode?
I'm an indie hacker which means I'm an army of one. I need to build (depth mode) and I need to sell (breadth mode). One struggle I'm having with this setup is effortlessly switching between each mode.
When I'm doing breadth centric tasks, I'm usually in sales mode. I want to talk and talk. I want to answer emails, call customers, go to meetups to collect feedback on my product, etc. It's almost as if I flip the ADD switch - I want to multitask and round robin as much as I can.
When I'm doing depth centric tasks, I'm usually building. I want to shut myself off from people and focus on writing software. I need an environment where I can concentrate and think deeply.
I know how to engage my mind to be in each mode. I do not know how to easily switch from one mode to the other. For example, right now, all I want to do is check emails and talk to customers even though what I need to do is develop. I'm having a lot of difficulty getting into depth mode and would love to hear how all of you handle it.
There are 3 stages/kinds of development:
Core/foundation development: Developing the foundations and core functionality of your product. Impossible to multitask or moonlight (IMHO). Need months of near daily development. It's only possible to do breadth if you have a cofounder: one does depth and one does breadth.
Feature development: Once core/foundation are mostly done, you can code up useful/cool features during a weekend and hang them off your core/foundation. This is far less intense. Deep thought isn't required. You can change between depth and breadth with relative ease. Smaller core/foundation development will raise its ugly head periodically and you'll have all the same issues as above again.
Promo development: I haven't got there but, at some point, your core/foundation is mostly done and your features are matching or exceeding competitors. Your depth and breadth are merging. You are developing purely in the service of sales. You are adding a customization/feature to get a specific big sale, you are A/B testing to promote the site, you are trying different things and dropping what doesn't work. Your foundation and features are so well developed that impressive features take almost no time or effort at all.
If you don't know where your current dev work fits in these stages, you can have a lot of trouble. If you do, then you can schedule your breadth activity to coincide with less intense dev work. And, of course, many people and even VC-funded startups build a bad core/foundation and get forever stuck in the first stage so they either flail hopelessly or need 10+ person staffs so separate people can do depth and breadth.