April 19th, 2020
move the needle. (idiomatic) To change a situation to a noticeable degree.
- Changing the layout of your homepage will not move the needle
- Most new features will not move the needle
- Switching from X to Y tool/platform will not move the needle
- Small SEO tweaks will not move the needle
- A Product Hunt launch will not move the needle
- Emails will not move the needle
- "That one big potential customer" will not move the needle
- Meetings will not move the needle
- Consultants will not move the needle
- "That one growth course" will not move the needle
- Implementing Vue.js will not move the needle
- Rebuilding your codebase will not move the needle
- Unit tests will not move the needle
- Moving off of Heroku will not move the needle
- "That one blog post" will not move the needle
- Changing the copy of your call to action will not move the needle
As an early founder, I've found it very dangerous (but also tempting) when I'm prioritizing tasks like these over tasks that actually move the needle.
I'm not saying these things aren't important, but (in my experience) most of them don't have a high impact on the business.