Almost Effortless

Like a warm knife through butter.

That’s what it feels like when you’re doing what you do best. The process comes so naturally that you hardly think about it. It’s like breathing, only more fun.

Being dropped into a new project is scary for some. As a business analyst with significant scar tissue, I love it.

The initial overwhelm is normal. Exhilarating even. I’ve learned to embrace it and trust the process of discovery and assimilation that has become second nature. I slake my curiosity with new information. There are new relationships to mine — both human and digital.

Armed with patience and a quiver of questions, chaos becomes order. Wishlists get prioritized. Vague narrative tightens. Chaff is removed, revealing an MVP of wheat. Within days, makers can begin building. What was an jumble of mental wood is now neat stacks of like-sized lumber. With clarity comes the power to plan. Dreams becomes artist sketches of what will be. Activity becomes production.

A product is born.

 

Image credit: Carey Tilden (Butter) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons