The Pixar Approach
Monday, June 14, 2010 at 1:22PM by Jason Markow 
A humorous post over at lettersofnote.com reveals at least one employee's ( John Lasseter ) philosophy of Pixar, namely: Pixar films don't get finished, they just get released. Similar to the 'software' approach, the idea here is to 'release' early, spot issues quickly, and fine tune often. Pixar may not have this luxury, but (depending on your situatiuon) you might.
I found myself referencing this post during two conversations with other writers yesterday in describing my own working style, and I wanted to share three reasons why it works:
No Analysis Paralysis
An old colleague (thanks Eric!) taught me about the idea of "Analysis Paralysis"- He described it to me as staying up so late the night before vacation, deciding when to leave, that you never reach a decision, sleep in, etc. If you spend all your time deliberating and not taking action the result is often a healthy does of nothing.
Percentages that Matter
Pareto's principle applies here. If we agree that 100% represents perfection, I would argue you can reach 80% completion in 20% of your time, while it takes the remaining 80% of the time to bring that 80% to 100%. Being first to the game is usually a welcome advantage, so as soon as you hit 80% you should 'release'. You will be playing the game long before any competition attempting to show up with 100% providing you ample time to adjust and adapt.
Perfection is Overrated
One of the writers I was speaking with is an admitted perfectionist. Although perfection is the goal, it is often times overrated. The best time to release your idea was yesterday, the second best time is right now. Don't worry so much about making it perfect because you can always make changes, updates, and revisions later.
I want to end with this thought: One post that has been on my mind, partially complete, and to this day never posted is the "Welcome to the blog" post for this site. For some reason I never got around to writing it. If I waited to 'release' this blog until I had that post written, it is safe to assume I still would be at square one (read: never started).
Image Credit: ~Thanh
