

Ask YC: How To Prioritize - mdemare

For me, one of the hardest parts of doing a start-up is deciding what to do first. I know what has to be done, I know how to do it, but I find it much harder to determine what my site <i>biggest</i> issue is.<p>To give a few examples:
I haven't implemented billing yet. This is obviously essential, but now may be premature, since ...
I've got very few users. So, maybe I should do more marketing, but ...
My site may not be good enough yet, so most visitors won't stay around. So maybe I should listen carefully to my current users and make the site ... prettier? Easier to use? Create more content? Make it more fun? More addictive? More viral?<p>This is a hard problem no matter what, but does anybody have useful suggestions on dealing with these issues?
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thorax
I'll start by saying I'm a weird guy.

A long time ago I realized that people mean different things when they say
'priority'. If you only mean the 'value' of a certain task, then that's not a
good way to prioritize, IMHO.

I've changed my model to prioritize strictly according to return on
investment. I.e., how much value I or the company receives for unit of work.

In my professional project management and in my company, here's the algorithm
that I pretty much use for every sort of task prioritization:

(1) I put together a list of items

(2) I put a relative cost (RC or C) associated with each item-- for a task
list this tends just to be the hours you predict you'll spend.

(3) I hide those costs and then add some number that represents the relative
business value (RBV or BV) of each item. (More on this in a second)

(4) I unhide things and then put another column that just calculates RBV/RC
which indicates the return on investment (ROI) for each task.

(5) I then sort it all by ROI and work my way down the list in ROI priority
order, always working on the tasks that offer the most ROI, I adjust values
and costs (and re-sort) as my needs change, work completes, and as my
understanding of each task changes.

The units used to value each assigned task is not really important. It's only
important that tasks have a value that makes sense relative to each other.

For example, if I have these tasks:

    
    
      * Setup tech support email account
      * Improve usability for site logon page
      * Write a blog article about our recent features
    

I might then give these costs:

    
    
         01 hour  - Write a blog article about our recent features
         01 hour  - Setup tech support email account
         16 hours - Improve usability for site logon page
    

Having a tech support email account, I know that's important and I must have
it, so it gets a high value. In this case, I'd say "Improving usability" is
something we could survive without, but I firmly believe it could increase our
revenue.

I might then give these relative business values (I'll just say points):

    
    
          200 pts - Write a blog article about our recent features
        10000 pts - Setup tech support email account
         5000 pts - Improve usability for site logon page
    

When I calculate the ROI and sort them, I get this list that I work from top
to bottom:

    
    
        10000 pts/h - Setup tech support email account
          313 pts/h - Improve usability for site logon page
          200 pts/h - Write a blog article about our recent features
    
    

As long as when I add new tasks, I evaluate them against the other values and
costs to ensure they're all relatively correct, the list always sorts to
provide the tasks with the 'biggest bang for the buck' at the top.

~~~
mdemare
I think I'm weird too, because I love the idea. But please tell me you only
use this for work.

I don't have Excel, so I'll start writing a Ruby DSL to implement this right
away.

    
    
        *mdemare eyes himself warily*

~~~
thorax
We actually juse use Google Spreadsheets, and it's simple enough that I use it
for personal stuff sometimes, too. It sounds far more complicated than it is.

Here's an example sheet that you should be able to copy via Google's menu:

[http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pvOwoUYoNUFTmGZhwyjK4...](http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pvOwoUYoNUFTmGZhwyjK4OA&hl=en)

Having used this specific approach on many projects, there's considerations
that should be kept in mind that I haven't solved 100%:

It's difficult to track dependencies between tasks and have those sort
efficiently. As a human you have to realize the sheet is a tool and that you
have to look to catch these things from time-to-time.

If you're not careful, you can defer 'infrastructure' tasks that have no
obvious/direct BV. I work around this by temporarily having infrastructure
tasks inherit the combined BV of all things that they'll help and for all
tasks to add the infrastructure item's cost to theirs.

There's probably a more accurate formula for dependents and dependencies to
use, but I find that if you have 99 tasks dependent on an infrastructure task,
it's not unreasonable to say that task is pretty durned important to open
'doors' for the company.

For example, refactoring tasks often fall into this category. Changing from an
Access database backend to a MySQL backend might not give you immediate ROI,
but the sheer number of things that open up to you as possibilities after that
need to be considered somehow. The conventional naive approach might not get
you there without the item inheriting some of the value.

------
pg
Do whatever would make users love you so much that they spontaneously
recommend you to their friends.

~~~
sarosh
There needs to be a way to save this comment alone for posterity.

~~~
pg
[http://carlzimmer.typepad.com/sciencetattoo/2008/02/y-combin...](http://carlzimmer.typepad.com/sciencetattoo/2008/02/y-combinator.html)

------
Tichy
Sounds like a case for structured procrastination:
<http://www.structuredprocrastination.com/>

I suspect it is best to focus first on the task you most feel like doing.

~~~
mdemare
Thanks for this fascinating article! But my problem is not one of motivation,
but one of knowledge. i.e.: I have no idea what the most efficient use of my
time is. I just do what I feel like doing, not (necessarily) what gives the
best R.O.I.

~~~
webwright
If the analysis is time consuming/paralyzing, take a guess and proceed. If you
literally have no clue, chat with your co-founders. If you're still unsure,
grab 10 random target users and give them the list-- as them which thing on
the list they'd want you to work on.

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mixmax
It is a hard problem, but by addressing it you are already ahead of the crowd.

What I would do is to set up some goals (get more visitors, increase ROI,
etc.) and then look through your list of stuff that needs to be done, with
these goals in mind. Do the ones that are most likely to get you towards your
goals.

Just writing it down will probably help a lot.

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ashu
If you are at a fairly early stage in your start-up (< 1 year), I would
suggest you focus on your product and ONLY on your product. Forget marketing,
addictiveness, virality. Figure out what is the core value you want to provide
to users and just focus on that the hardest. Make your product the absolute
best that can be.

Within your product, do the most important thing your users need or you think
your users need. (The former is better if you have a significant user base.)
If that thing is billing, do it, else postpone it. Don't think about what will
cause a media splash, or what is "cool". Stay focused on what people want.

If you have been live / launched for quite some time, marketing, addictiveness
and virality become somewhat more important, but from your question, I suspect
that isn't yet the case.

~~~
skmurphy
Bijoy Goswami, the prime mover behind the Bootstrap Network
<http://www.bootstrapnetwork.com/> has an approach he calls "Demo Sell Build"
that recognizes that most of the risk in a startup is not technology but
market. I agree with "figure out the core value you want to provide users" but
I would give short presentations or briefings (e.g. one page handout, one
slide, one HTML mockup page) to make sure you've nailed it before developing
the full app. Bijoy goes into more detail on his model in the "Bootstrap
Bootcamp Fall 2007" DVD here [http://www.amazon.com/Bootstrap-Bootcamp-Fall-
Bijoy-Goswami/...](http://www.amazon.com/Bootstrap-Bootcamp-Fall-Bijoy-
Goswami/dp/B000VHSPF4)

------
skmurphy
Don Reinertsen <http://www.reinertsenassociates.com/> author of "Developing
Products in Half the Time" and "Managing the Design Factory" has a great quote
about managing product priorities that bears on this.

"Priorities: Last Refuge of the Innumerate

What is our highest product development priority, cycle time or unit
manufacturing cost? To even ask this question, suggests a fundamental
misunderstanding of product development economics. If cycle time takes
priority over unit cost, then it follows that we would prefer the smallest
improvement in cycle time to the largest improvement in unit cost. If unit
cost takes priority, then we would prefer the smallest improvement in unit
cost to the largest improvement in cycle time. Does this make any sense? Of
course not. When we prioritize we give strict precedence to one objective over
another. Such strict precedence leads to bad economic choices.

The value of cycle time and the value of unit cost must be expressed in the
same unit of measure: life cycle profit impact. It is only with this
quantification that we can make good economic decisions to trade one for the
other. Setting priorities for individual measures of performance is simply
avoiding the important job of understanding how performance influences
economics."

It sounds like you need a simple model for what the site will look like when
it's profitable (e.g. number of customers, how often they visit and how many
times in total do they visit (customer lifetime), what does it cost to acquire
them, what and how much do you charge for, how often do they refer other
customers...). Once you have some numbers on your model you can then build a
plan to evolve toward it.

I am inferring that you are going to be a subscription site ("haven't
implemented billing") I would get that done right away and see if you've built
something that even a small number of folks will pay for. There can be a world
of difference between what people like and what they will pay for. Focus on
what they will pay for in a subscription site.

------
NickSmith
I've found that when we are confident, relaxed and grounded in the present
moment, prioritisation tends to take care of itself, in as much as 'what's
next' becomes quite clear and obvious. So (at least to me) the problem of
priorities is really a symptom of the greater issue of how stay relaxed and
centred in the natural 'flow' of your project/start-up. This is not so easy,
particularly if this is your first start up because, almost by definition, you
are working outside of your old comfort zones. But I wrote a little piece*
about this that might help.

Also, it can help if you keep a list of low complexity, low priority tasks
that you can pick from as your fancy takes you, when your motivation is low or
you are just having an off day. You'll be suprised how ticking off these low
priority tasks will give you a sense of progress that restores your clarity
and motivation to tackle those bigger, more complex milestones. Good luck :)

* <http://www.life2point0.com/2006/06/the_little_book.html>

------
iamdave
I'm not sure if you've read 37Signal's book on Application Development "Get
Real" (<http://gettingreal.37signals.com/>) but you can accomplish a lot of
things when developing applications by knowing not how to prioritize, but what
to prioritize. The one thing that I appreciated the most from the book was
this one principle:

"A great way to build software is to start out by solving your own problems.
You'll be the target audience and you'll know what's important and what's not.
That gives you a great head start on delivering a breakout product."

Start off by figuring out what you need to progress, and once you get to that
point, build on it and make it better, and before you know it you're trucking
along on the next great web app.

------
wallflower
In the network marketing world (of which I observed as a passive participant
briefly), they have a saying - don't confuse activity as productivity. For
example, in network marketing, filling out paperwork and reading web sites and
listening to tapes are (low-value) spin your wheel activities. Approaching
prospects, inviting people to meetings, mentoring, and selling product are
high-value productivity. These productive activities can all be measured: As
one of the co-founders of HP said in a maxim: "You can't make what you don't
measure". For your startup, intend to focus on activities where you can
measure results and success. Billing will be one - you can even see if people
actually use it.

------
mooneater
I maintain a spreadsheet list of smaller tasks that need doing, vaguely
inspired by Getting Things Done. Add a priority column and sort. Then each
day, review the list to update priorities, and flag items I intend to complete
that day.

Separate list for major features I intend to add. Works the same as the task
list, except on a much slower timescale. That one has ended up being much more
valuable.

The simple act of collecting this all in one spreadsheet doc has resulted in
way more clarity in my thinking and planning. It allows me to bounce between
many major areas of work, without losing track.

Best of luck!

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crystalarchives
I try to maximize productivity and efficiency; if I have a lot of time, I do
something I'm less familiar with since I'll probably have to look things up
and experiment, without losing state. If I just have a little bit of time, I
work on the parts I know I could do in my sleep, so if I get interrupted it's
no big deal, I can easily pick up where I left off.

But most importantly, I try never to procrastinate, although I don't always
succeed... Good luck!

------
mrtron
Focus on your core competency. Whatever makes your site good and unique. There
are a zillion other sites, why would someone come to yours?

Obviously listen to your users! Prioritize on things that you think will grow
your site - like ALL of the things you listed. Some are easier to address than
others, so tackle those first.

~~~
mdemare
But _any_ on my list could be a full time job. And yet I must choose. But how?
Are there rules of thumb?

How do other start-ups prioritize?

~~~
xirium
From the book Eat That Frog! - 21 Great Ways To Stop Procrastinating And Get
More Done in Less Time: Doing something is better than doing nothing. Make a
list of five tasks. Order the tasks by strict priority. Work your way through
the list, skipping as you get stuck. If your list has more than five items
then you're spending too long making lists.

------
gscott
Keep doing something on what you are building and eventually you will have it
done.

------
edw519
What's the ONE THING that MOST differentiates you from everyone else?

THAT's what you should focus on.

You can do later, delegate, or outsource the stuff others can do to the others
who can do them.

~~~
mdemare
Oh, I'm focusing on that, but there's just me, so no outsourcing or
delegating, and stuff like web-design, marketing and billing needs to be done
too.

~~~
edw519
Understood. I guess the point I was trying to make was that if you do your key
differentiator well, then the web-design, marketing, and billing will be much
easier to do. It's much easier to sell a game breaker than just another thing.

OTOH, there's not much need for billing if you don't have something fantastic
to sell.

My experience is that when you really focus on the one big thing all the small
things get even smaller once you get around to them. Hope that helps.

EDIT: It just occured to me that pg describes this concept (What's the best
thing you could be working on, and why aren't you?) much more eloquently here:

<http://paulgraham.com/procrastination.html>

~~~
skmurphy
I would gently disagree, if he is running a subscription site he needs to get
billing working to determine what folks will actually pay for. Having a
billing system communicates a serious intent to your prospective customers
that you want to provide value and are in it for the long haul.

------
prakash
one word: VALUE.

In your case that translates to which features translate to the maximum number
of users.

