Ask HN: Dealing with things you don't excel at?

[dynabros]

As a founder, how do you deal with things you know you aren't great at? For example something which needs to be done, but you yourself can do it mediocre at best - there's no money to hire someone to make it great for you.

Do you try and work on it for hours or days hoping to sharpen your skills and attain a better version, or do you give it your best shot on the first try and move on to the next thing?

I'm worried about spending too much time on something that's futile, but I'm also worried about having something that doesn't look great representing my company.

[caw]

I'm not a founder, but the exact same problem comes up at large companies as well. Get it done quickly or get it done fast, get it done right or get it done as well as you know how to.

It really comes down to how much you're going to gain out of this solution, how long it's supposed to (or will) stay in place, and what it will cost you to do it right. Cost is not only a function of time and real dollars, but also opportunity cost that you could have been doing something else.

You may not have to worry about something that doesn't look great representing you. How often is it seen? Internal? Quick and dirty, it's probably going to change in the future anyhow. Do the people seeing it care that much? For example, an admin interface (unless it's part of the reasons you buy) may not have to look good, just get the job done. Only 1-2 users in a company would see that, and the rest see the other interface. You have time to make it better later.

[dynabros → caw]

Thanks for the excellent advice. Do you think for a beta product, skimping on various things will haunt you even after you go live? Or do you think everything is easily replaceable, and no one will even remember?

[caw → dynabros]

Well, it depends on what the product is exactly. Some of my internal tools it doesn't matter if we gut the whole thing so long as at the end the same functionality remains. However, if it's the core of your product, then that should probably be done correctly, even if it takes you a while. Side features (changing passwords, logins) can evolve over time.

I can tell you no one will remember, but that's false for certain values of users. New users will never know the difference. Old users may welcome the change, or despise it. There's a delicate balance between something you know is better for them, and users being stuck in their ways (some justified, some not). See the Office Ribbon. How many people complain anymore about that? In the beginning though, everyone was up in arms. To some extent that's because there was nowhere to move to except Office, but over time the changes become the new norm and people accept that.