Shoot The F#cking Deer

Michaela Watkins on the theoffcamerashow

I felt stuck the other day at work.

We’re facing a part of our API we don’t love and want to change it. But it seems like we’ve been talking, and debating, and planning for a while.

And the changes don’t happen.

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Work isn’t the only place I’ve had this feeling of being stuck.

I started taking improv lessons.

Last week didn’t go so great.

I had a scene with a partner where we pretended we were getting ready to perform an opera.

One problem. His character wasn’t originally part of the performance. He was some random weirdo who came in off the street through the back door.

It was a solid start to a scene. Got some giggles. Look at me, Mom.

But we ended up hemming and hawing on what we were going to do next. Debating on what we should do that isn’t opening the curtain, walking on stage, and actually performing an opera.

The scene fizzled.

When I got home, I was disappointed in how stuck we felt up there and started the YouTube search for lessons. Immediately I found a gem from Michaela Watkins. An actor and improv teacher you likely recognize and have found hilarious on SNL or some sitcom.

She explains how often she has two students on stage “going hunting.”

Here they are. Guns in hand. Talking about the big deer ahead of them. “Are you sure you want to do this?” “Did you bring the bullets?” “No I thought you did.” And now the scene is stuck. It’s boring. It’s not going anywhere.

Her advice? “Shoot The Fucking Deer.”

You’re worried that shooting the deer ends the scene. But it’s actually when you cross that threshold where all the creativity is. So many new options open up.

That’s exactly what happened at our opera. We were worried this thing we made up was the end. But had we just “shot the fucking deer”, so many new opportunities would have happened we could have learned from, reacted to, or played with on stage. My brain lit up with all the funny bits we could have performed had we actually just crossed over the imaginary line.

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Last week we had a meeting to explore our options on this API refactor. There’s at least a couple good ways of implementing our plan. And, like any good team, we have different opinions on those directions.

So here we are starting to debate about which direction to take. I could easily imagine us punting this decision again with “let’s wait till we get more information about option 1 next week.”

But I’m proud of our team. We know we don’t want to be stuck. We know how Michaela’s advice should work here.

These API changes seem so “final”. Of course we want to get them right. It sucks to refactor an API that customers are using. But really, it’s not life or death. We’re already talking about a v2 of our API. I guarantee there will be a v3 one day. And a v4. And more.

So we’ve picked an option. Started the opera. Shot the fucking deer.

We aren’t 100% positive we’re going to love the option we’re picking, but the business doesn’t hinge on us getting this absolutely correct. The business hinges on us keeping the momentum we’ve got and shipping great things quickly. A whole new world of opportunities and lessons opens up when you ship. Our customers will have something new they’ll hopefully love. And if they don’t, we’ll have tremendous feedback to get it even better.