Some problems are genuinely hard, and no amount of thinking alone will magically produce the solution. That said, many problems are not new. Chances are, someone else has encountered them before, and solved them in one way or another.
At Metrifox, my co-founder and I have been working on enabling clients to customize their Product Journey lifecycle, and it has not been an easy problem to crack. The idea sounds simple on the surface: let clients define what happens when a customer signs up. Should they be assigned a default plan? What happens when they upgrade or downgrade? What strategies should apply? Do they get unused credits back? What happens to unconsumed entitlements?
Every time we took a stab at it, we’d hit a roadblock. We would realize that a certain path, while workable today, would come back to bite us later. So we’d pause, step back, and return to the drawing board.
This is a real and pressing need for our clients. We could have rushed something out just to provide temporary comfort. But we knew this piece was foundational and getting it wrong would create more problems than it solved. So we waited.
Nothing is new under the sun
This is a proverb I heard often growing up, and it felt especially relevant this week. What are the odds that we're the first people to ever wrestle with this kind of problem? Slim to none. Somewhere, someone has faced something similar, and found a way through it.
This meant that we didn’t have to invent everything from scratch. We could learn from existing patterns, prior art, and the collective experience of those who came before us. So, instead of doubling down on what the architecture should be based on how our system worked, we doubled down on more research on how different scenarios had been tackled by other companies.
You might be wondering whether we did any research at the start. Of course we did. But in hindsight, it wasn’t enough. We hadn’t found the missing piece yet, and the breakthrough only came after reading more, asking better questions, and widening the lens.
Waiting is not Weakness
We finally had a breakthrough yesterday, and one thing my co-founder said with so much joy on his face was: “I’m so glad we waited.”
Sometimes, you know something isn’t right, but because you’re under pressure to stay in motion or to show “progress”, you go ahead and act anyway, even when you’re not fully convinced.
Sometimes, what you actually need is more data, and that’s okay. If you’re sure a path isn’t the right one, wait until you find the right path. You will find it, I’m confident of that. Just don’t do the wrong thing simply because you feel the need to do something. Sometimes, doing nothing is the better decision.
Ah, that sounded like a quote.
Don’t do the wrong thing simply because you feel the need to do something. Sometimes, doing nothing is the better decision.
Abiodun Olowode, Jan 2025
I’m learning that restraint is a skill. Speed without clarity serves no one. The world may reward speed in the short term, but building something long-lasting rewards honesty, patience, and the courage to wait.
Not everything needs an immediate answer. It’s okay to pause and think again.
‘Til next time amigo, have a great weekend 👋🏾