From www.urbandictionary.com - [llnk]
Hacking’ at something used to mean you were bad at it e.g.: a political ‘hack’. Now to 'hack' something means you’re clever.
It means to 'use something in an extraordinary way’...
Recently I used an example of a drawing and made some hand written changes. Then I got someone to mock up the new drawing.
This made the process very easy and fast for both of us (myself and the draft person). I was told “I like working with you”.
Actually from my perspective I hadn’t done very much at all - I had modified an existing drawing and asked him to make the changes shown - quick and simple. I had used an existing drawing as a ‘template'.
You can find ‘templates’ for many parts of your business, modify them and put them in place. For example;
- restaurant menu
- job description
- office layout
- a process
- procedures
- branding
- timetable
- accounting system
Get something in place that works quickly and improve it as you go.
Learn from experience and improve it again (knowledge from experience is called ‘tacit knowledge' - great explanation from Dr Nancy Dixon here - link)
Customers are concerned about getting what they want, not that you developed every part of your whole business originally, from scratch - SO WHY BOTHER!
What you learn by doing is super valuable and should be added to your operating model regularly. Don't wait for perfection before making a start.
Build on the work of others and ‘hack’ away.