Technique #1: Phone a Friend

1. Explain it to a friend/family member
2. Wait for their eyes to glaze over.
3. If you have a designer/developer friend, ask them which part is hardest to design/implement.

Technique #2: Concierge

1. Take the hardest part.
2. Do it manually instead of automating it.
3. Hire someone to automate it while you count your fat stacks.

Technique #3: The Sitemap Slash

1. Draw out your sitemap / screen flows.
2. Remove half of the screens.
3. Don't put the missing functionality back. You'll be the only person who misses it.

Technique #4: Risky Business

1. Identify your biggest risk.
2. Design an experiment that tests ONLY that.

Developers: Don't underestimate the importance of sales.

Technique #5: The Time Bomb

1. Choose a timeline for launch.
2. Cut your timeline in half.
3. Launch.

Salesers: Don't underestimate development time / cost.

Technique #6: Red Alert (1/2)

The following words should set off an alarm bell in your head:

1. Recommendation Engine
2. Machine Learning
3. Social network
4. Scale (unless you sell machines to weigh yourself)
5. Need
6. Conjunctions

Technique #6: Red Alert (2/2)

Replace alarm word with happy word:

1. Mechanical Turk
2. Me / intern
3. Not a social network
4. 10 customers
5. Don't need
6. Only