Looking Back, Part 1

Star Wars and Your Project

10 May 2023

Looking Back, Part 1

Back in 2020, I wrote a series of essays. Now, I’m going to do a short series revisiting some of these pieces. I want to explore what still stands up, where my thinking has evolved, and what I feel I could have communicated better. Just generally improve as a writer and thinkster 1.

Alrighty! Let’s kick this off with Lessons from Star Wars.

Firstly, oh my word, has the Star Wars landscape changed. Such wild fluctuations in terms of quality - for every Andor (sublime), there’s been a Book of Boba Fett (deep well of disappointment).

Obviously, writing about Star Wars was a ploy to court engagement. I mean, I have a lot to say about Star Wars! I have a lot to say about product development! Seemed like a natural fit.

I’m a little unsatisfied with my prose in this essay. Too many adjectives! I’d like to think I’ve gotten better, but editing this recap reveals that I still struggle with overcooked sentences.

The thesis holds up pretty well - “Understanding Your Current Users” is 🔥. “Taking Themes Seriously”, despite being a bit long, retroactively illustrates why Andor works but BOBF and season 3 of the Mandalorian falter. Word on the street is they’re trying to take these lessons into account with upcoming Star Wars projects (the series leading up to the Thrawn film 🤤, a new Rey movie), but we’ll see. Proper theming needs a steady hand, and I kind of suspect they’re more focused on plot than theme. I’m a little skeptical, but I’d love to be pleasantly surprised!

Regarding “It’s OK to delay” - I’ve since learned that the Miyamoto quote is apocryphal. It does still illustrate the Nintendo release philosophy, though. As I write this, “Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” is about to release over six years after the last Zelda game. Sometimes, you just have to let them cook. But! But but but. Delaying product release until you’re ready for your audience is not license to skimp on feedback! You need high-quality feedback on your product as soon as possible. Feedback that’s based on the full product vision, rather than context-free slices. And you need it early enough that you still can respond to it! Yes, you can only launch a product once; those first impressions can dramatically impact your product’s success. In order to ensure that launch goes as well as possible, use feedback to maximize your chances.

And remember - not all products launch! For some of them, it’s just fine to quietly spread through word of mouth.

“Don’t Try to Control Everything” - this section starts to touch the theme that will infect all of my writing going forward. We build better products when we let everyone contribute. Planning is important, but keep it loose. Having a unified voice is important, but don’t let it be stifling. It takes more effort to synchronize everyone, but the payoff is worth it.

The points in summary I think do a good job of getting my message across. In a world where sometimes “continuous delivery” can devolve into “foist this on all of your users immediately”, #3 is a message that needs to be heard, even as it is not complete without constant, effective feedback. And this is likely one difference between your own project and Star Wars -> many software projects have a core product value that can be delivered on a much shorter timeline. You will still want to consider your customer rollout strategy, but the sooner you can get that core value into the hands of your customers successfully, the better off you’ll be. And that means understanding what’s actually important to your core value, and what’s just gloss.

One essay down! It went better than I expected, to be honest. Minimal cringing on my part. More coming soon!

Big thanks for Steven Combs for helping me think through this piece. I appreciate you my dude.

Image generated by Bing Image Creator, from the prompt ‘Medium splash image for an essay responding to another essay called “Star Wars and your project”’.

  1. Ok, thinkster is just me playing with words. Not sure what it means! Gangster of thought? Probably not. It feels good coming out of the mouth though. Thinkster. Thinkster. Thinkster. Way better than the pretentious and weighty “thought-leader”. Mind-worker (ick!). Ok, sidebar over, carry on. ↩