Analysis paralysis

In my day-to-day job, I'm a computer consultant.

One of our pet phrases in the management / PM end of things is Paralysis by analysis. In case you have never heard of that, or just don't work in the industry, it works like this: System development in larger companies often follows a few set phases:

• Initiation (Gather requirements, sponsorship, estimates)
• Analysis and design (Detail what needs to be done, what will the system look like)
• Development (Code!)
• QA andimplementation (Test and start using it)

Of course, this is quite an oversimplification. If you are interested in this sort of stuff, a good starting point is wikipedia.

Paralysis by analysis refers to the penchant for certain developers to never move out of the analysis or investigation phase. This is a common trap to fall into, because there is always more to know.

Since my last blog almost a week ago, I've fallen into that myself - with respect to blogging. I would spend some time thinking about what I should write and then do nothing.

So, my resolution is to just not do that, or stealing from Nike - "Just blog it!"