Top-down is a plan of how the WHOLE is going to work

Bottom-up is how you intend to EXECUTE various subparts

 

By nature top subsumes the bottom,

but it’s only at the bottom that you explore it in all practical nuance (i.e. literally execute).

And only once you executed the constituent parts — do you see if your top-down design works or not, and what tweaks must be made

 

The short term naturally comprises the bottom-up,

However bottom-up shouldn’t ever exist without a basic top-down.

(at an extreme, without having ANY top-down plan — except for ‘just start moving’ — you end up moving in the opposite direction)

The long term is by definition top-down, however

 

Of course you can add granularity. Break down parts into smaller parts still, then those parts into yet smaller parts. All that is normal

The principle stays the same:

-there is the goal, with some predefined guardrails

-and then there are various concrete steps of moving closer to that goal

 

finally,

Your top-down plan obviously doesn’t have to be perfect,

however you must ascertain that it IS, in fact, possible

 

Common trap is hesitating because you don’t have every STEP planned out

You don’t have to

If you know SOME of the steps — you can start

For the REST of the steps — you must only know that it is POSSIBLE,

Preferably more than possible, preferably very highly probable. That’s when you get things done

But knowing every step is not necessary to know that you will very likely achieve that goal

Knowing every step entails knowing the entire tree of possibilities. A tree can diverge into million branches, potentially (which can STILL end up in the same river! I.e. the same goal)

Knowing it’s probable and possible and likely, however, only requires having the data that is has been done myriad times before, and what are the necessary input conditions, prerequisites

 

The other trap is of course doing the opposite — and NOT even subjecting your long-term top-down plan to the basic test of FEASIBILITY

If it’s not easy,

if it’s rarely accomplished,

or if it’s never been accomplished

then of course this changes the paradigm completely

Now you should set out ONLY if you’re completely prepared to fail, to never get there,

and ONLY if you already know you can accomplish as MANY of the IMMEDIATE STEPS as possible,

i.e. top-down is still vital but almost certainly provisional, tentative, doomed even,

whereas bottom-up is now the absolute minimum requirement, and the more bottom-up steps you can accomplish — the better

For that is the only thing you can clutch to, the only known

 

Of course with this case, you want to have a backup,

You’ll likely never get to the final destination — so the hope is that WHEREVER you manage to get — will at least have some value

You hope the pieces you pick up will have ANY value

 

THIS is the formula

It applies to various time frames — the defining aspect is the delta between the whole and the comprising parts, not literal specific time

It applies to various undertakings

If you’re mindful of it — MAYBE you won’t get stuck

Maybe you won’t go in the wrong direction

Maybe you won’t get lost

Maybe you won’t get paralysed by indecision, petrified in not seeing the full path

And maybe you’ll survive until the finish line

Maybe your work won’t be doomed from the start, and your work won’t be worthless

And maybe it won’t be such an excruciating ordeal, but instead a creative flow

Those are the stakes

 

Therefore always be mindful of the TOP-DOWN and the BOTTOM-UP,

EXPLICITLY always ask yourself:

-what’s the ultimate plan, what are the goals, what are the constraints, what is EVEN POSSIBLE? What’s probable, what’s VERY probable? What’s the worst case scenario, what’s the best case scenario? What’s the expected outcome?

-and then break it down to steps — making sure the deeper you drill down — the more concrete the instructions and outcomes become, and that probability gets closer to 100%

Then know when the first is imperative, and when the second is the key urgency

Rerun it multiple times whenever necessary

Whenever in doubt

In doubt of the strategy, in doubt of the tactics, in doubt of the near-term or far-term, in doubt intellectually or in doubt emotionally