Lessons Learned
Most projects on this site end with three takeaways. Collected here — 12 of them across 4 projects — it turns out some are the same lesson wearing different clothes, which is the part I find interesting. Once or twice a jigsaw puzzle and a corporate website taught me exactly the same thing.
Somebody has to go first
Three versions of the same permission slip. Nobody assigned me any of these — and the size of each one turned out to be set by how much I was willing to claim, not by what I was handed.
Build a business mindset and "own" your business
Try.Hyland.comStarting a small business exposes you to as many challenges as you're willing to take on.
Buckeye Pride DesignsJust because it hasn't been done before doesn't mean you can't be the first
The Dog Saloon
I was searching, not solving
When I got stuck, the problem was almost never how hard I was working. It was the setup. On the puzzle it was more tables, in more rooms; at work it was the realization that I could not personally write every lab. Same fix — change the conditions, not the effort.
You cannot scale through yourself
Try.Hyland.comGive yourself space
Big Sky SaloonOrganize, Reorganize, Repeat
Big Sky Saloon
It has to leave the room you built it in
My favorite pair on this site. A dog house and a corporate web platform taught me the same thing, and both taught it partway through rather than at the end: I moved the build down to the basement before the walls went on, because the finished thing was never getting back through that door easily — and on Try.OnBase our dev team talked us into a full rebuild on the shared platform rather than an upgrade in place, which sounded like a setback for about a day before it was obviously right. Design for the constraint before you hit it.
Build platforms, not products
Try.Hyland.comAlways measure your doorways when making furniture
The Dog Saloon
We couldn't get our time back
These argue with each other slightly, and that's the honest version. Effort pays — and effort also comes with a receipt. What I'd actually tell you is to put more in, in fewer places.
Your time is more important than ever
Buckeye Pride DesignsYou get out of it what you put into it.
Buckeye Pride DesignsWhile over-engineering can be fun and lead to some unique results, it does come with a cost
The Dog SaloonFind the low-hanging fruit
Big Sky Saloon
The stories behind them are on the projects page.