When you are first starting a new app or idea, time is your most valuable resource. Many programmers will choose to spend exorbitant amounts of time on getting the code just right, or setting up the perfect system. Resist this temptation. There is no such thing as a perfect system. Reduce complexity and abstraction, and just do the simplest thing that could possibly work.

Buffer has a great post with an example of starting lean – the cronjob that generates $4 million a year. Most programmers would agree that a work queue like Gearman would have been better for Buffer’s use case, but a cronjob is undeniably the simplest way to go without complicating the codebase or server setup, and it’s a solid choice when you don’t even know if the idea is going to work yet.

The sooner you launch, the sooner you can find out if your idea will be successful. Don’t waste precious time on things that don’t matter.

Vance Lucas // @vlucas