Parenting advice powered by Lenny's podcast wisdom

Quality, Features, Deadline

Dylan Field

Inspired by on Lenny's Podcast

You can have a fun family outing that's well-planned and stress-free. Pick two.

Dylan Field shares wisdom from his co-founder Evan: "For a new launch, you got quality, features, deadline, choose two."

This is the iron triangle of parenting weekends. You want the birthday party to be amazing (quality), include all the activities your kid requested (features), AND happen on time (deadline)? Good luck.

Something's gotta give. The elaborate Pinterest-worthy cake means you're running late. The perfectly timed schedule means the activities are simpler. The full feature-set with high quality means you moved the party to next weekend.

The beautiful thing about software - and parenting - is you can iterate. "You can ship it with features and deadline and then improve it iteratively over time." The first family game night doesn't have to be perfect. The first attempt at Sunday pancakes can be mediocre.

Stop trying to nail all three. Pick the two that matter most for THIS moment. Next time, you can pick differently.

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PM Theme: Project trade-offs and prioritization

Parenting Theme: Managing expectations

Quotes that inspired this tip
Another thing that Evan taught me was that for a new launch, you got quality, features, deadline, choose two.Dylan Field · 00:30:04
The beautiful thing about software is you can keep iterating on it... You can ship it with features and deadline and then improve it iteratively over time.Dylan Field · 00:30:04
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