Perfection is not a badge of honour if stops you getting stuff done — “Perfect is the enemy of good” — Voltaire. The quote has been doing the rounds for years. After all, Voltaire passed away in 1694. Over 300 years ago, this advice was given, yet perfection is still what people aim for. I was once a perfectionist. When I was about six…

Using a single tool can block distractions. No effort required. — Humans have a finite amount of willpower. As the day goes on, we use our willpower fuel tank to avoid distractions, resist urges and motivate us to get stuff done. Every nag we resist, email notification and social media buzz is a tax on our willpower. For me, Youtube is…

The only thing you need to sort your loose paper — My paper system used to be a mess. Moleskine notebooks stacked up for safekeeping, sticky notes with to-dos, car insurance letters and a bunch of spam mail that I had all intention of putting in the recycling. All this paper was dotted around the house, mostly ignored and eventually chucked. …

Always question — Last year, I wanted to invest in Grammarly Premium to help with my writing and spelling. Opening up the chat window, I discussed the annual price with the customer service operator. They named their yearly cost, just as advertised on the website. To me, that was too much. I could afford…

Internal = external — Remember when kids would hide their test answers, or a student wouldn’t let on what books they’ve been reading. Maybe your boss never told you the full story on the product, as their historical knowledge is what they believed kept them employed. Companies hold on to trade secrets like a…

One bad day is all it takes — For several years I’ve been a craft beer drinker, advocating the craft beer scene, enjoying great beer most weekends and designating beer as a passion. Beer was my passion. But for me, enough was enough. My drinking habits, although not severe, were more destructive than they were beneficial. It is…

You need to have a process — Some people love goals. They stick them on the wall, build a business around achieving them and strive for personal achievement by completing them. Goals can provide focus and something to aim for. Something to achieve. A tick box milestone in life and business. Other people don’t use goals and…

And the least amount of pain you want to endure — Over the years, I’ve worked alongside companies that are solving problems with the software. From e-commerce platforms to dealer tracking software, I’ve had hands-on time with a bunch of applications, all trying to solve a set of business problems — centralisation of data, end-to-end customer purchase journeys, complete customer experience…

It wasn’t solved when I worked there, but it is now — Working for the UK’s largest craft beer brewery, I had a lot of projects to juggle. E-commerce websites, investor platforms, mobile apps and internal systems. It was an exciting Product role with ever-expanding touchpoints across the business, but my favourite was always the culture initiatives. I loved working for a…