Doing new and complicated projects requires subdividing the tasks involved.
Once the little things are done, how do you make sure they still make sense together?
Here are four practices I find helpful:
- Know your outcome - keep the picture (real or in your head) of the final outcome near by.
If you ever played with lego, you know how it goes; there is a bright picture on the first page, and many small steps inside the instructions. Sometimes it helps to look at the first picture again and again. Just to remind us where this all goes.
- Checklists - use them, but don't over use them.
My best practice is to have a list of subdivided parts, but without going too much into details. The whole process should also be fun, and managing many small details seldom is...
Do the fit check - as often as you can.
Once you did the small task, do yourself a favor and see if it fits with the other parts. Then these things can be fixed early on, or avoided entirely.
Adjust as you go - follow the plan, but be flexible.
It is always about the process, you are getting to the final result, but things just don't fit.
Take a step back and see how you can fix it. There will always be things not accounted for; miscalculations, forgotten things, newly discovered things... You are still the creator, chances are this is not that bad. Fix it and carry on.
What are your best practices for the process? Please share with us.
Enjoy,
Dani