Mid-Project Doubt
I’d like to introduce you to an old creature that has been antagonizing creatives for quite a while—its name, Mid-Project Doubt. It has the unusual habit of appearing half-way through projects and causing all sorts of trouble.
After each product launch, you think you’ll never see this monster’s ugly face again. You think once you’ve fought past it, you won’t have to defeat it again. Unfortunately, this isn’t how things usually work. This confidence-muncher sneaks into your studio and scares the b-jpegs out of your team over and over again.
After the initial thrill of brainstorming sessions, working prototypes, and graphics and code half-fleshed-out, you find yourself in an all-too-familiar and strangely depressing place. The excitement and passion you felt for your project has been thoroughly drained. Your vision of the final product has been replaced by a revolting frankenstein of a half-baked piece of software.
Every time you open your work-in-progress, you doubt its worth. “It’s not as fun as we anticipated. It doesn’t look as good as we thought it would. This thing is totally unusable and perhaps even user-hostile!” Thoughts like these seem to replace the blood in your brain. It can be a very frustrating time.
Even when expecting this as a part of the process and acknowledging that these thoughts are probably ridiculously overblown, it’s frightening to admit that quite possibly they are true. So what do you do? Should you struggle through to completion? Or scrap the project and move on?
First take a breath. Then take a break—a day off, a week relaxing, or a month-long sabbatical (depending on how big the project is). If you were truly in love with this idea, you’ve been so immersed in it you have probably lost perspective. You need to regain perspective.
So now your mind has had time to find the surface. A semblance of objectivity is back in town. Perhaps you can even look upon your work-in-progress with a bit of fondness. Good. Now the tricky part…
With your recently cleared brain and now unstressed heart muscles, you have to reassess your project. You want to ask yourself two questions. “Can I clearly see the original vision?” Or, “Can I see an alternate possibility, equally appealing?” If you can’t see the original vision or any vision, you’ll have no passion. And without passion, you’ll have no quality. Making lousy products is depressing. I don’t recommend it.
The most important lesson I can give you from numerous mid-project crises—take a break, reassess, and attempt to rediscover the vision. And if you can’t, don’t worry. Mid-Project Doubt just became one of your best friends. Ride another road, partner.