No. 13 “That’s a v2.”

great idea. Not now.

Good ideas keep showing up mid-project. Saying yes to all of them sinks the launch.

“That’s a v2” parks the idea without killing it. It waits its turn.

Keep a v2 list. Ship the v1.

“v2” is just version 2, borrowed from how software counts its releases. Nobody owns it.

In 1975, Fred Brooks called a team’s second system “the most dangerous,” since every idea held back from v1 tries to pile in.

So park ideas, but pick carefully.

• Fred Brooks, The Mythical Man-Month (1975), “The Second-System Effect”

Save this for the next time a great idea shows up the week before launch.