This weekend I participated in another bike race. It was a crit race: fast race, very technical, lots of turns which make the race extremely challenging. It is a huge effort both physically and mentally, and requires very high focus. Bike races, and this one specifically, require lots of team effort, high concentration (lose concentration for just a few seconds – and you’ve lost the race). And most specifically, as my coach keeps reminding me – always look ahead! Especially when taking turns. J
This race made me ponder how similar bike races and startups are. Focus, concentration, team work, it all rings a bell, doesn’t it?
And of course the art of taking turns. A common rooky mistake when taking turns is to focus on the turn. Where in fact, you need to look ahead well beyond the turn, to the point you want your bike to take you (Carmi, my coach, simply calls it “the look”).
I used this drill again and again this week as we were discussing various features. Instead of focusing on the features and the current requirements, we have to focus first on our vision: where do we want to be? Then, it becomes apparent how we should implement the current feature. This way the current feature becomes one step in the road that takes us to our vision.
As I was racing, I kept repeating in my head this mantra: always look ahead, always look ahead, before each and every turn. As we were planning features, I kept repeating in my head this mantra: always look ahead, think where you want to be, think about your vision.
And it worked! I won the race, and I am just as sure that SharedBook is going to win its race too!
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