The Trap of Shiny Object Syndrome
This model is the third part of a small series about creating and building a project or idea. You can view the other parts of this series here:
A recap of the Corridor Method
If this is your first visit, and you’re incapable of clicking a link, the Corridor Method is the method of progression through taking action, rather than over planning and formulating the perfect outcome before inevitably never starting.
With the Corridor Method, you can only see the true opportunities of a project, or idea, once you get started. These are opportunities that you wouldn’t think to plan for, but only see once you start, they present themselves as you’re exposed to new information, through ongoing testing and iteration.
How to get moving quickly
The Corridor Method is only valuable if you continue to use it, taking your self through corridor after corridor to get you closer to your objective. You need to keep moving through corridors, t’s never simply a one and done approach.
Once you understand this concept of ongoing progression, and the importance of action, we use the next model required to build a project or idea - the importance of taking small fast steps, rather than large slow ones using an MVP approach.
Addiction to MVP’s can lead to Shiny Object Syndrome
Although small builds are the best friend of progression, they have a destructive side effect, the effect of Shiny Object Syndrome. In the words of my good friend Wikipedia, Shiny Object Syndrome is defined as the following:
“Shiny object syndrome is the situation where people focus all attention on something that is current and trendy, yet drop this as soon as something new takes its place”
It’s a concept that is a devastating disease for those trying to build a long term business or project. In the era of Fake Gurus and social media, Shiny Object Syndrome is compounded, as people get seduced by ‘guaranteed methods’ of get rich quick schemes, which entice them away from the grind of their existing project, and towards an easy quick win to fix their problems.
I have personally been a victim of this, once I understood the value of the Corridor Method and MVP testing when starting my first business, I jumped at every opportunity I laid eyes on. This was me using the Corridor Method incorrectly, as I progressed, I found more ideas, but they weren’t ideas to improve my business, they were alternative business ideas that I thought would bring about more success.
I was looking for a silver bullet idea for a business, so sure that some businesses were way easier than others. As a result of this, I fell victim to a disease that ended up killing my business. I completely lost focus, falling into the trap of spreading myself too thin by testing too many new ideas, rather than iterating on the one idea that mattered, my business.
The importance of starting, but not starting over.
I had misunderstood the idea of iterating upon one foundation. Iteration and improvement wasn’t about testing every possible foundational idea, it was the concept of compounding learnings on the same foundation over and over to build something of significance.
The end product of your idea may be very different to what you initially planned it out to be, but it should be built from the same foundation. The more iterations you make on the same foundation, the more corridors you go down. The more corridors you go down, the less crowded those corridors get, revealing more valuable opportunities.
An idea gets stronger with every iteration, brought on by constant tinkering and testing on top of the one foundation. In contrast, always building new foundations from scratch brings you constantly back to square one.
Key takeouts for starting, but not starting over:
Make yourself well aware of Shiny Object Syndrome, it’s a trap that can distract you to other opportunities that often never deliver on what they present themselves to be.
Lay one foundation, to then constantly tinker and iterate on top of it. Avoid building new foundations from scratch.
Get out of the main corridor. Aim to progress down as many corridors as possible, the more corridors, the more hidden and valuable the opportunities will be.
When thinking of iteration, also consider Recognition Towers
The idea of constantly building on the one foundation is closely related to a similar model called Recognition Towers, which speaks to the idea of applying time and patience to every project.