The Resilient Entrepreneur, Edition #80
Hi there
I hope you had a great week!
Here are the topics in today's edition:
- One Month Projects: Why Anything Longer Is Too Complex
- Fast and Flexible Problem Solving with the OODA Loop
Please reach out if you have comments, questions, or suggestions for articles!
Talk soon 👋
Tom
KickKerK
LEADERSHIP FOR RESILIENT ENTREPRENEURS
One Month Projects: Why Anything Longer Is Too Complex
In today’s fast-changing world, one-month projects work best. Learn why short, focused projects deliver results while long ones fail.
Everything is connected, and technology evolves like never before, mainly due to the fast development of AI. What was cutting-edge technology yesterday is now a commodity.
It’s no different in geopolitics: Thanks to Donald Trump, priorities and standpoints shift within days. And this isn’t happening in a calm and stable world, but in a world where Russia, China, and a few others battle for global influence.
And yet, most organizations still do projects the traditional way.
They insist on procurement exercises that last for months in a world where innovation cycles have shortened to months or even weeks. Think of Lovable, the vibe coding platform that went from 0 to 100M in revenue in eight months. It wasn’t even in existence when you launched your procurement exercise at the end of last year.
Often, project requirements go far beyond functional requirements: Compliance rules dictate many non-functional requirements – very often, they don’t create value, but just cover some individuals’ backs.
To finish things off, many projects set up huge project structures with steering committees, sounding boards, project communication, and much more. Ironically, those projects call for a project kickoff meeting long before it is clear what needs to be done.
And everybody wonders why everything takes so long.
Here is a simple rule:
If a project takes longer than a month, it’s too complex.
Full stop.
I’m not talking about projects like building an airport or reforming the social security system. I’m talking about those thousands of projects we run in our organizations, no matter how large or small those organizations might be.
Let’s look into some examples.
1. New Features
At Yonder, the company I co-founded, we’re in the software business.
Building a new feature should start with a proof-of-concept (POC), minimum viable product (MVP), or whatever you want to call it. If properly specified, an MVP can be implemented in a month. If you can’t implement it in a month, most probably your solution is too complicated.
When developing new features, always break them down into sub-features and start with the MVP. You can always add more functionality later in a separate project, provided the additional functionality is needed at all. The market will tell you once you ship the MVP.
2. ISO Certification
A few years ago, we underwent ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certification. Not because we wanted to, but because the market we operate in expects those certifications even from SMEs.
We broke down the process into a series of short projects. We started with the ISO 9001 certification when we were around 10 people in the company. So that was a reasonably short project to complete.
A year later, we added ISO 27001 certification on top of our ISO 9001 certification. Adding an ISMS on top of an existing QMS is significantly easier than doing both together.
Another couple of years later, we merged the two single certifications into a combined certification.
And yet another year later, we upgraded from ISO 27001:2013 to ISO 27001:2022.
Had we tried to tackle all those elements in one step, we would probably still not have received our certification.
3. Marketing Initiatives
The pop-up store is the prototype of the one-month project. You launch quickly, get feedback from the market, and then decide what to do next.
It’s the same with an email campaign in a new geographical market or a new sector. You blast it out, get feedback from the market, and then decide what to do next.
Compare this approach to applying for permanent store concessions or printing brochures for a new market. You would probably not get anywhere.
Conclusion
In our fast-paced world where certainties disappear by the day, technology and geopolitics will outflank you when your projects take too long. You will have wasted lots of time and money on things that are no longer relevant in a changed world.
In contrast, when you stick to the one-month rule for project duration, you can do things quickly and get feedback from the market.
If the feedback is negative or the world has changed so much in that month, dare to abandon a project or product.
But if the feedback is positive, start a follow-up V2 project to improve your project or product. But limit the follow-up V2 project to one month, too.
INSPIRATION FOR RESILIENT ENTREPRENEURS
Fast and Flexible Problem Solving with the OODA Loop
Tired of endless problem discussions? Use the OODA loop to solve problems fast and always move forward. It works for all walks of life.
Successful teams don’t analyze problems to death; they solve problems. That takes structure and speed, not drama.
Enter the OODA loop: Observe – Orient – Decide – Act. Originally a military framework, it can be applied to any complex problem in business or life.
To solve a problem, you need to decide before you start acting on the problem. For this, let’s turn to the OODA loop for help: It is a decision-making model originally developed in the military, but it can be applied to any problem. It works for tactical problems as well as for strategic problems.
Notice something missing? There’s no “discuss endlessly” step. Let’s break it down with some real-life examples from the startup world.
1. Observe: Spot the problem. That’s it.
In this step, you observe that there is a problem in your company. This can be a customer complaint, an employee who wishes to discuss her salary, a tool that doesn’t work the way it should, water damage in your office — any kind of problem. It can also be a more strategic problem: Why don’t we grow faster? What’s wrong with our pipeline? Why do competitors win deals we were sure we would win?
No matter if it is a tactical or a strategic problem, it starts with spotting and acknowledging the problem.
What kills speed
Finger-pointing, debating why the problem happened in the first place, and insisting on finding the root cause before fixing the problem kill speed.
What works
First of all, acknowledge that there is a problem. In case the problem involves a customer, a short communication to the customer that we are working on the problem is also part of this step.
2. Orient: Make sense of the problem in the context
This step is arguably the most important step in the OODA loop. It’s about making sense of the problem in a wider context.
Does this customer complaint fit into a pattern of a larger problem, or is this a new or isolated complaint? Is it just the same employee asking for a salary raise over and over again, or do we underpay our team as a whole? Is the water damage in our office originating in our premises or on higher floors? Is slow growth due to internal issues, or are shifts in the market or geopolitics the root cause?
What kills speed
Problem-nurturing in this step of the OODA loop is dangerous because you lose valuable time. Think of first aid as an example: Don’t complain about the delayed arrival of the ambulance due to heavy traffic; just stop the bleeding before the patient dies.
What works
Problem resolution means two things in this step: First, take immediate actions. Stop the bleeding, communicate with customers, and so on. Second, gather facts and develop possible courses of action to fix the problem for good.
3. Decide: Pick the best course of action
In this step, you compare the possible courses of action you developed in the previous step, weighing their advantages and disadvantages before making a decision. In this way, you can avoid running off in the wrong direction with good intentions, but ultimately missing the target.
What kills speed
It’s easy to ask for more information or additional options before making a decision. However, you will never have complete information to make your decision – that’s the burden every leader carries when making decisions.
What works
Make the best possible decision with the information available to you right now. In case things go in a different direction, you can always adapt your plan. That’s where contingency plans are useful: What do you do in the event of X, Y, or Z? Contingency plans are part of your decision, and quite often, the options you didn’t choose become the raw material for your contingency plans.
4. Act: Do it. Own it.
Once a decision has been taken, take ownership, solve the problem, and get it done.
What kills speed
If you’re in a leadership position, involve your team in your decision and the execution of your decision. If you don’t involve your team, you don’t just waste precious resources and knowledge, but also precious time: You can’t do it all by yourself.
What works
During the execution of your decision, hold regular update briefings with your team. In this way, you can track progress on the execution and react to changes to the plan in one go.
Conclusion
Living the OODA loop is an attitude of constantly improving and solving problems analytically rather than nurturing them. If you live in the OODA loop, you will be fast, flexible, and always moving forward.
Compare this to politics, where problems are nurtured for years. Maybe the OODA loop would do some good to our politicians, too.
About Me
Growing a company 📈 in uncertain times 🔥🧨 is like running a marathon — it demands grit, strategy, and resilience.
As a tech entrepreneur 💻, active reserve officer 🪖, and father of three 👩👦👦, I share practical insights and write about entrepreneurship, leadership, and crisis management.
When I’m not solving problems, I recharge and find inspiration in the breathtaking mountains 🏔 around Zermatt 🇨🇭.
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