The semester recently ended and what a semester it was. Having 48 hours notice to switch all classes online was a bit of a fire drill. This was exasperated in having a new class, Tech Product Management II, which was meant to be all cases and workshops mostly delivered by guest speakers. We pulled it off and I think it went reasonably well but I would make some changes to the class if it were to stay online exclusively as the Socratic method doesn’t directly translate to video.

The next month gives me cycles to explore the building of several businesses. I value these times and, if I can keep focused, find them highly productive. Its never a good idea to pursue multiple new products at the same time. Thus, I run short cycle (typically 1-3 weeks depending on the complexity of the research) deep dives to get a qualitative sense of whether the need exists and my potential solution is viable. My goal is to get down to one primary area of focus for the next few months via this process. If I don’t whittle it down then I can’t put the depth of cycles around building one thing that’s required for any new product. A likely death knell.

However, I afford myself these times periodically to go expansive and heavy on research so I have some evidence that my most valuable resource, time, is best utilized. It also doesn’t mean that others are killed but might be put on hold or pivoted as I did to one product line extension recently moving from building myself to looking to acquire — saving time but costing money.

If focused efforts by small teams can build ventilators in a month, I think I can handle it. Doing this last August was highly productive and got me focused on building a new class and specialization in my teaching, a successfully expanded digital business and the groundwork for this plan. I just don’t know if I can come up with something so timely and innovative as this.