Anyone that knows me will tell you that I’m a “fly by the seat of my pants” type of guy. Grocery lists? No way. Planning for the weekend? Not a chance. This way of thinking is in stark contrast to the skills needed to be successful at my job, so I leave it at home and put on the PM shoes before I go to work. After working in project management during the day and tirelessly overseeing the development of my first web startup at night, I’ve come to realize that careful planning and documentation is necessary to the success of any business- be it in an agency setting or a dot com.

Until a few months ago concepts like product life cycle management, product requirement documents, and technology roadmap were just buzz words that I had only limited exposure to during my MBA classes. Since I began planning the launch of my first startup back in October 2009, the meaning and purpose of those terms became more and more clear. Through trial and error, I’ve gotten to the point where writing plans, proposals and requirements is not only helpful in conveying my ideas to the design and development team, but also in getting to better know my own product. It didn’t take me long to realize that I could draw out all the wire frames I wanted, but if I didn’t have a clear understanding what my product was or where I wanted it to be in the next year then it isn’t going very far. I’m a big believer in the saying “ideas are a dime a dozen” so turning it from just a dream into a problem solving, revenue generating application isn’t something that I take lightly.

I don’t have a crystal ball that will tell me how this venture will turn out but I’m confident in my ability to see it through and adapt to any situation. My newfound “put it on paper” mentality framework has already helped me numerous times at both my day job and during my rookie season on “team startup”. The days of wondering why people put so much emphasis on product specs and planning are over. I’m happy to say that I’ve embraced the concept of documentation by not only choice, but necessity.