Analysis Paralysis

I have been working on a personal project for a while. The intent of the project was to create a cross-platform app that I would submit to the iOS, Android and Windows stores. It was a project that was testing out a type of workflow: cross-platform app development; verses a specific app.

But then the wheels started going off the rails. First I thought of a productivity app for social media caption creation to simplify writing captions for posts. Then I thought of doing a game. Then I changed the game…and again.

All while I was churning on what the app was going to be, I also kept spinning on how I was going to make it.

“Xamarin?” “Sure!”

“But what about HTML5 and CreateJS with Cordova?” “Awesome!”

“Animate CC and AIR?” “That could work too.”

“How about Buildbox?” “Duh! That makes total sense.”

Over and over, I kept churning on what I was going to make and how I was going to make it.

Then I stopped and I just thought:

There are too many damned choices.

Through struggling this much with a personal project, I just have such huge amount of sympathy and compassion for those that are making technology decisions at a much larger scale. But then I look down at my arm.

Sounds odd, I know.

But years ago, my husband told me that I have to stop planning and, “just do.” That phrase hit me and had a profound impact on me, so I inked it on my arm as a constant reminder that sometimes you need to commit to something and “just do.”

The options that are possible to us as developers are huge, and they are growing mathematically in front of us. With each of these come three basic considerations:

1. Can I use my existing skills?

Many technologies as based on others either directly or spiritually succeed earlier products or technologies. If you have an existing expertise or skillset that you can reuse, it makes it easier to adopt and transition.

2. Is there long-term commitment?

Technology comes and goes. As often as a new JavaScript or game framework come into existence, another fades silently into obscurity. But if you are building something that you want to be in market for a long time, you need to know that the technology will have equal longevity. Some, like AngularJS, do have longevity, but as the 1.0 to 2.0 transition showed, that longevity has some major growing pains associated with it.

3. Will this be more than “just enough”?

You want your products to the best they can be. Some technology options give you the ability to use your existing skills, have long-term support, but the output at the end is only “good enough”. It can sometimes lack the impact you want at the end. So you need to ask if the output of the product is worth greater work and risk? It is one of the biggest and nerve-wracking decisions that developers make.

So what about you? Have you been stick in the analysis paralysis cycle? What broke you out of the spiral? How did you “just do”?