it’s so easy to do things wrong even when you know they are wrong

Jesus. How could I be so stupid. Have you ever done that thing? You know? That thing! It sort of rolls like this.

You’re creating something, it doesn’t matter what it is, you’ve read all the books, been practising your art for years, you’re ready to create something big. You start building it, so utterly sure that you’re doing all the right things, then someone says are you doing *this*, confident you answer “Yes of course I am,” because it’s so obvious that you would be doing that thing as it’s fundamental. But you’re not.

That happened to me when building my product. I would swear I was doing what you should be doing, building something small first then incrementally expanding it based on user feedback, implementing their feedback, and iterating. Then came the question, “What about the many other users that could potentially use this product, what do they say?”. Ehhhhh, what do you mean all the other users? Oh shit. I knew I should have been talking to as many people as possible, it costs nothing, I almost thought I was, I really did, but I wasn’t expanding my horizon to the people that mattered. It seems so fundamental that you’ll not believe that someone wasn’t doing it. You’re probably laughing at me now.

Maybe everyone else is doing the right things and I’m just that loser. Probably not though. I think my point is to make sure you are doing the things you think you are doing. Just asking yourself if you are doing them may not be enough, have someone challenge you on it.