Jamie Kosoy outlines 10 fundamentals for developing Flash projects on a tight deadline. The fundamentals include giving everyone input, not saying tasks are too difficult, building quickly even if the code is ugly initially, trusting the timeline for animation, preparing assets and organization, starting from scratch without relying on past work, striving for excellence rather than perfection, and keeping solutions simple. Kosoy provides examples for each fundamental and emphasizes the need to work fast with 4 weeks until launch.

I’m reflecting on this talk over 15 years after I gave it. I don’t really drink anymore (and never drank much), so I’m not super proud of Point #6 but the point was to generate a laugh from the crowd. And Point #8 (start from scratch) might work well in the setting I was familiar with, but doesn’t hold up as strongly with the benefit of experience. Besides that, the 10 values mostly hold up for me. Years later, I’d tweak them to this:

  1. Give everyone a say
  2. Never say it’s too hard
  3. Build fast
  4. Build ugly
  5. Trust the timeline
  6. Drink lots of whiskey You’re all in it together, so enjoy the ride.
  7. Mise en place
  8. Start from scratch From scratch always come out better than from a box
  9. Strive for excellence, not perfection
  10. Think simple