I think we’ve found a new way to procrastinate.

And this one looks incredibly productive.

We used to buy courses.

Read another business book.

Listen to another podcast.

Convince ourselves we were working on our businesses when we were really just consuming information.

Now?

We’re building things.

Dashboards. Apps. Automations. Custom software. New systems.

And with AI, we can create something in an afternoon that used to take weeks.

It’s exciting.

But I think we need to ask ourselves a pretty uncomfortable question.

Are we building something our business actually needs, or are we avoiding the work we should be doing?

Being Productive Isn’t the Same as Making Progress

I love technology.

I own software companies. I believe in innovation.

But I’ve also learned how expensive building things can become.

When we started building software, my cleaning company took a hit.

Not because the software was a bad idea.

Because my attention went somewhere else.

I had to build the management structure that allowed the cleaning business to operate without me before I could give another business the attention it required.

And that’s something we don’t talk about enough.

Every new project costs more than money. It costs attention.

When you’re building that beautiful new dashboard, what aren’t you doing?

Following up with customers?

Improving your sales process?

Developing your team?

Fixing the problem that’s been sitting on your desk for three months?

Sometimes the hardest work isn’t creating something new.

It’s fixing what’s already there.

Your Business Doesn’t Need Another Thing to Maintain

Aaron brought up a great example during our Q&A.

You can build the most beautiful dashboard in the world.

But if nobody enters the data, what good is it?

And who’s going to keep it updated?

Who’s going to fix it when something changes?

Who’s going to train the next employee to use it?

Congratulations.

You might have just created another job for yourself.

That’s why I’m becoming more intentional about what we build, document, and maintain.

Even our systems need to be simple enough to change.

I used to teach everyone to record videos for their SOPs.

Now I prefer capturing the process by voice or video and turning it into editable written instructions.

Why?

Because businesses change.

Software changes.

Employees change.

And updating a document is usually a whole lot easier than recording another video.

A system that is too difficult to maintain eventually becomes a system nobody uses.

Before You Build It, Ask Two Questions

Chris shared a prioritization method we use in software development called RICE.

But for most business owners, we can simplify it to two questions:

1. Impact: Will this meaningfully improve the business?

Will it help generate revenue, reduce costs, improve customer value, or create capacity?

2. Ease: How difficult will it be to implement and maintain?

Not just create.

Actually use.

Because a solution that takes five minutes to build but five hours a week to maintain might not be much of a solution.

And if something is difficult to implement with very little impact?

Maybe it doesn’t need to exist.

That’s the power of simplifying.

You don’t have to do everything just because you can.

Gameplan Audit and Revision

Here’s a practical way to apply this week’s conversation.

Our existing 1 Layer Deep® Gameplan Audit and Revision document is available in Drive. It’s a relevant companion to the discussion about keeping processes useful as the business changes.

Access the free Gameplan Audit and Revision resource →

Use it as a starting point for reviewing the processes your team already has before deciding to build something new. You’ll need to confirm its public sharing permissions before publishing the link.

The One Thing I’d Challenge You to Do This Week

Look at your to-do list.

Not everything on it deserves to get done.

Some things should be delegated.

Some should be simplified.

And some should be deleted entirely.

Choose the one thing that will make the biggest difference in your business this week.

Then do that.

Because the goal isn’t to create more things, collect more tools, or fill every hour of your day.

The goal is to build a business that works better because of what you do—not one that creates more work every time you have a new idea.

Align. Delete. Execute.

Less layers. More results.