Sometimes, it just doesn’t feel right

It happens – sometimes. You work really hard on something and plan it out. It’s going to be a great idea. You’ve put a lot of thought into it and people are going to love it. It just makes sense. You continue to work on it. Tweak it and test it. You shave some pieces off over there, refine something over here, and then you’re ready to show the world. You've finished, but there’s something wrong. It just doesn’t feel right.

It happens. Not everything you build is going to be great. It’s good that not everything that you touch to turn to gold. Right, Midas? It’s part of the development and learning process; it’s a great thing. It happens all the time.

Back to the drawing board. When it just doesn’t feel right there are generally two options: improve it or scrap it.

Improving it is easy. Go back to the development cycle. Figure out ways to improve it. Usually, improving something includes scraping pieces of it.

Scrapping something isn’t bad. You’re not truly throwing it out. You’ve learned from it and made the educated decision that it no longer makes sense. That it it just doesn’t feel right. Sometimes saying no is harder than saying yes, but it can be the difference between good products great ones.

Feeling is a lot of what makes products successful and it's hard to guess what something will feel like without experiencing it. Don’t be discouraged when this happens. It’s a great thing to have learned and experimented. You’ll be wiser for it. Don’t be hesitant in pursuing your ideas. The next one might feel great.