Matt Gemmell:
Defer starting. Put it off. Do your thinking first, even if you have to tie a hand behind your back. Allow the idea to ripen, and lay out your work – just a bit of it, at least – in front of you to consider.
I love the process of planning out a new project. Scribbling in my notebook, collecting and organizing ideas, playing it through in my head. It is so rewarding when the up-front work gets validated during the actual implementation.
Still, I often find myself just jumping into the production of an idea, knowing that that’s probably not the best approach and that most projects I start this way never see the light of day and get canned eventually.
Though I know about the flaws of that approach and though I really love the right way I don’t want to miss those short-lived exercises. They often result in valuable information and give me the good feeling of having learned another way of how not to do it.