A little over a year ago, my friend Michael asked me, “Are you a starter, a developer, or a finisher?”

He explains the differences, which he learned from Kevin Kelley, in this issue of his newsletter:

• Starters are great filling out an initially blank page with ideas.
• Developers shine when helping starters pressure-test and advance their ideas.
• Finishers thrive when packaging up ideas.

While I initially saw each of these elements in my work, it’s become much clearer to me that I get the most energy from starting and filling out blank pages with ideas. I thrive in an environment where I can take an idea from start to finish in the shortest amount of time possible. This blog is a great example of that—every day I am starting and finishing a new blog post. It feels very natural for me.

Michael identifies as more of a developer. He writes, “I have a knack for catching up to what starters are thinking and helping them to distill, crystallize, and amplify their thoughts before passing them off to a finisher.” Co-writing and editing are both skills very well suited towards developers. I would say while it doesn’t come naturally to me, I’ve strengthened these skills through my work at Figma pretty immensely and I feel confident as a developer. I also do like helping people nurture their ideas.

I’m not bad at finishing too, mostly because I’m so drawn towards delivering and shipping work, and the possibility of starting something new. This is critical work. I envision someone who’s a great finisher to be like video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, who can spot something in the near-final version of a product and be willing to call it out.

Nintendo Magic author Osamu Inoue describes Miyamoto once delivering an order in the final development stage of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, “So about that first village—one day is too short. Let’s make it three.” The team—already working overtime—scrambled to make these changes happen to meet the deadline. 

Similarly, when a game called Tinkle Popo went through his review, he forced the team to halt development on it even after it had sold 26,000 pre-orders. For the next year and a bit, the team would polish the game that got a new name: Kirby’s Dream Land. Miyamoto’s pause made an acceptable game great.

While you may be strong at each aspect, does starting, developing, or finishing give you the most energy? Which aspect are you weakest at, and who can you work with to fill that gap? More importantly, who on your team is doing a good job, but probably isn’t playing in the right position?