Building new things is exciting. It can also be tough to get started. In our case, we have an existing Listing Alerts feature that connects agents with buyers searching for properties. This highly valued tool needs some architectural changes to support our desired long-term vision including a user interface “glow-up” and new ways to keep agents connected with all their clients, not just potential buyers.

The product team has worked to uncover and understand pain points and opportunities with our users. We worked with our designer to build mockups to help build excitement within the organization and with our users. We put it through some initial engineering feasibility and scalability stress tests with our tech stack. We have a vision. We feel confident in our product-market fit. We know what problems we want to solve and what we want to build! But when it came to actually building the first piece, we were stuck in the classic “analysis paralysis” trap, asking ourselves:

• “Which piece do we build first?”
• “Which storage solution do we need: A or B?”
• “How are we going to get all this data from A to B?”
• “How do we account for this piece? And this piece? 
• “Oh, what if we decide we want to ___?”

At first, we thought we were just “doing our due diligence” with all our planning, but there were signals that helped it become clear we were stuck:

• Frustrating meetings: We met three times to discuss the same analysis document and left without any actionable output (work to pull).
• Lack of clarity and direction: We couldn’t clearly explain the problem(s) we were trying to solve, even to each other. All too often, we weren’t even talking about the same problem.
• We had more questions than answers: We were getting bogged down with “what ifs” that had us mentally erasing what we had already decided on and going back to the drawing board over and over (see above: “three meetings”).

Once we finally recognized we were stuck in analysis paralysis, we “pulled the cord.” Actions we took to get unstuck include:

• Asking for Help: We asked for a check-in with the engineering managers to try and help us out. Within the first five minutes, it was obvious we were trying to do too much at once.
• Limiting Focus: Through our check-in meeting, we were able to identify the first thing we needed to do. And that’s the only thing we talked about. We deferred anything that wasn’t immediately relevant to that first piece.
• Starting Before Ready: One thing that really slowed us down was trying to plan to get everything “right” upfront. Not only did this go against our lean principles, but it also created the false expectation that we would ever get it right on the first shot. 

These actions helped us make decisions and adjust our plan along the way. This led to speed, momentum and confidence on the team.

As we continue to build our new product, we’re keeping this experience in mind to identify/call it out more quickly. How we’re staying unstuck: Communicate. Communicate. Communicate.

• Communicate the Vision: We all want to know that we’re working toward something bigger than us. We need that drive and hunger to keep us going. Having a vision can fuel that drive and you can never over-communicate the vision.
• Communicate the Plan: Having regular check-ins to say “This is what we’re working on and here’s how we are planning to do it” will not only keep us focused, but will help identify any gaps or issues early!
• Communicate When Feeling Stuck: Asking for help early and often is praised on our team. It means we can learn faster and eliminate wasted time and work.