I grew up just north of Boston, where snowball fights were a childhood staple. After every big storm, I’d challenge my dad, and we’d gear up to go outside. Except I never went straight into battle.
I always started with a snowfort. I’d spend hours building a perfect one. I’d turn the snowpile at the end of the driveway into a fortress equipped with tunnels, walls, and hidden snowball stockpiles.
But by the time I was fully ready to fight, my dad had long gone back inside.
The risks of being unprepared are easy to understand. We all know what that failure mode looks like.
But being overprepared—as I learned every snowfall—can be just as damaging. The risks are just better hidden.
The trap is that overpreparing feels like making progress. You’re doing lots of work (building the fort), but you’re not advancing toward your goal (having the fight). You can get so caught up in crafting the perfect plan that you miss your chance to act. Worse, you can get stuck building the wrong thing.
Maybe you need a shield, not a fort. But you’ll only find out by getting into the fight
Running a business or hardware program demands momentum. You have to stay in motion, make decisions, and move while the window’s open.
Early in the company, we began using “snowforting” as a codeword for when we were too deep in planning mode — a quick, shared cue to shift towards execution.
Of course, certain things demand extensive preparation. Its all a balance and sometimes you do need a great fort.
But frequently, you don’t lose because your fort wasn’t perfect. It’s because you never made it into the fight.
