100 day goals

This post boils down to one statement: "every 100 days we have a 20-day-long crunch time". I'm all for getting things done, but scheduling arbitrary crunch times is a great way to wear the team down until people quit.

I recently did a challenge of 100 days of commits to side projects and I&#x27;m now at day 96. I think this was awesome for me, as it kept me really focused on my projects, even if some days I had only small commits.<p>I think my next challenge might be even more focused and look to launch one of my prototype projects in a specific amount of time. This will force me to focus and launch something, even if it isn&#x27;t perfect.

Anyone else go to Amazon thinking &#x27;hmmm, maybe I&#x27;ll buy a 100 day goal calendar, it&#x27;s probably only $5.&#x27;<p>The one he has on his wall is <i>$42.50 on Amazon</i>... I think I&#x27;ll print out 100 pages and tape them to my wall.

A 100 day challenge doesn&#x27;t make sense for an established company (why would you do that to yourself?)<p>But for a startup, it makes total sense. You&#x27;re moving quickly, and 100 days is enough time to make substantial progress while keeping yourself accountable to actually shipping. I think it sounds like a perfectly viable strategy. Definitely not for everyone.<p>I took his advice to heart and today is day 1 of my 100 day challenge (yesterday was day 0): <a href="http://iambateman.com/today-is-launch-day/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;iambateman.com&#x2F;today-is-launch-day&#x2F;</a>

There seems to be something deeply effective about setting arbitrary constraints. Obvious examples abound: haiku, twitter, 80-char code, screenplays in fixed-width Courier, 25-minute pomodoro, text-only man pages. Also, the metronome of practicing music (cadenzas don&#x27;t count), the fixed 8 hour workday, the 12-tone music temperament..<p>I&#x27;ve wondered what a piece of software could look like with each function&#x2F;codeblock written on 1 index card each. Linus seems to prefer one-page functions for C, but I like the extreme of the index card.

This is how I&#x27;ve gotten around my own productivity faults: not with a particular arbitrary date, but by publicly promising to a point of no return. It&#x27;s incredible how much I&#x27;ve been able to do by setting expectations without too much estimation. By promising what I want to accomplish rather than what I think I am capable of accomplishing, it tends to push me to be more productive than I thought possible.

I work at Thinkful (<a href="http://www.thinkful.com" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thinkful.com</a>) - we help people learn to code through coding projects and mentorship.<p>Thinking about using this with my team. I made a PDF so we can print it, thought you gals and guys might be interested too: <a href="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/34726262/100%20Day%20Goal.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;dl.dropboxusercontent.com&#x2F;u&#x2F;34726262&#x2F;100%20Day%20Goa...</a><p>Edit: Here is a similar option available at Amazon, it&#x27;s $42 (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Countdown-Calendar/dp/B004VP6XBK" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.amazon.com&#x2F;Countdown-Calendar&#x2F;dp&#x2F;B004VP6XBK</a>)

I&#x27;m of two minds on this.<p>On one hand, making deadlines as short as possible is a great idea. It&#x27;s too easy with one-year or two-year projects to six months arguing about infrastructure, requirements, and standards and end up delivering late or not at all. Every project should be required to deliver <i>some</i> value in the first couple months.<p>On the other hand, three or four twenty-day crunch times every year is not sustainable. Unless they&#x27;re planning a Logan&#x27;s Run-style turnover of their current team.

Since they are like $40 on Amazon, I&#x27;m selling them here: <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/321226528853" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ebay.com&#x2F;itm&#x2F;321226528853</a><p>I think it will cost about $7 to print it and $5 to ship it (free shipping is included, internationally as well I believe) so this is about what I expect my cost to be.

100 day goals are pretty effective when you make the right goals. They are pretty dangerous if you&#x27;re aiming the wrong direction.

&quot;how fast it took&quot; does not parse.