How do you stay focused on milestones
I have no problem hiding away and coding for days, weeks even.
But sometimes I forget to set launch dates and actually get my product clearly defined without feature creep. How does everyone stay focused on milestones?
I've considered paying a friend to "product/project manage" my projects.
I work backwards by first setting milestones, then strategies to get there, and finally tactics (tasks really) for accomplishing those strategies. My milestones are usually goals I want to hit by a certain date, so I modify my strategies and tasks to be doable within the given time frame. And I try very hard not to work on tasks that I didn't come up with this way.
Of course it doesn't always work. I have to fight a lot of fires, and sometimes deadlines slip. But overall I seem to hit most of goals I set without getting too distracted.
Now whether or not I'm setting the right goals is a totally different question…
Whether any goals are “right” can be a philosophy deep end but I’d like to think that you can imagine very meaningful moments in your life (helping inspire indie hackers of the future, sparking a culture of openness) and goals that lead to those moments, might be right.
I like this framework a lot, especially since you set the milestone first and not your tasks first. Did you notice a difference in how you manage this after joining stripe?
Stripe is big on planning. I'm big on it, too, and I've always planned well in my personal life. But it's harder for me with startups, because who knows what's going to work, or what plans won't work, or what's even possible?
Still, teams at Stripe make plans, and I was no exception, so I gave it a shot, and it went surprisingly well! I have a destination and mind, and while I still no idea if my roadmap to get there will work, the destination never changes, only the roadmap.
Focus on KPIs, not features. Track these KPIs religiously. If helpful, write a monthly progress report on how the KPIs are doing and the wins / losses for that month which contributed to that result.
Thanks! That rings true, its super easy to work on features forever
Set time out to create weekly & longer milestones, and then set a reminder to track them on a consistent basis (daily, twice-weekly, etc.).
Adding more info. I have a buddy that is also indie hacking and as a course of practice we’ve met over video chat every Monday and Thursday form 7pm-7:30pm and go through a run down of our most important goals and issues.
This has been super helpful and encouraging for the last three months and I’d encourage everyone to find a buddy.