Launching - The Final 5%
Building and releasing a software product can be a very draining endeavor. And, those who have done it to some degree of success can attest to how difficult that final 5% of the effort can be - the last part that leads up to the launch. It’s in this final stretch that your list of “to-dos” seems to become regenerative. Every item you knock off the list seems to have another pop up in its place. And, the granularity of these final to-do items gets super specific - even down to the minutia of minute measured tasks. Also, a lot of key realizations occur during the final stretch that were somehow missed along the way. The reality of the imminent release creates a sense of urgency that causes people to think about things in a different light, and thus see new things.
During this final 5%, what is really happening is the intensity level of the team is rising significantly in order to reach optimal productivity when it matters most. It seems like no matter how much forethought and attention is given to making a project go smoothly and follow a predetermined schedule, the final stretch is always an intense crunch time. I think this occurs naturally and even reflects the balance of energy in the universe. The intensity at which a person can work varies over time, leading to variances of productivity. Sometimes you’re able to crank out amazing amounts of work, and sometimes you’re just not in the groove and find yourself “going through the motions”. Writers even have a name for extreme cases of low individual productivity: “writer’s block”. In software development, the best time to have high productivity is during that period leading up to the launch so you can be certain you’re getting your best possible product out there. So, the final 5% of launching gets to be that super intense period on any project. I got another coming up, so I guess I better go get intense now.