Don’t Be Your Own Bottleneck

Working in technology has given me the chance to build solutions that genuinely improve productivity, reduce risk, and create better customer experiences.

A few times over the years, the solution simply did not exist yet. My team and I had to imagine capabilities that were beyond what was currently available.

We had to start with the client’s desired outcome and then work backward to what might make it possible.

And almost every time, the same fear would show up.

What if this does not work? What if we are trying to build something unrealistic? What if the technology is not ready?

Whenever that happened, I would tell the team something simple.

Do not become realistic too early.

First, imagine the outcome in great detail. What would the magical version look like if everything worked exactly the way the client wanted?

Reality will challenge you soon enough. Constraints will come. Trade-offs will come. Engineering will force choices.

But at the idea stage, do not become your own bottleneck.

Sometimes the breakthrough begins when you allow yourself to imagine what should exist before worrying about what currently can.