One Miracle Rule

Note to the reader: This is a repost from LinkedIn

We have one rule in my org for evaluating tech projects called “The One Miracle Rule” 🔮

When assessing any complex initiative, map out every critical element: technical challenges, resource needs, timeline constraints, team dependencies, and organizational changes.

Here’s the rule: You get ONE “miracle” - ONE major unknown you’ll need to solve along the way. That’s your innovation space. But if you need multiple miracles (like inventing novel ML features/signals AND building unprecedented infrastructure AND collaborating with two or more separate orgs), it’s time to pivot: “Neat idea, maybe when it’s a one-miracle project…”

Why this works: Innovation thrives on pushing boundaries, but execution demands pragmatism. One miracle? That’s ambitious yet achievable. Multiple miracles? That’s where I’ve seen too many projects spiral into missed deadlines and burned-out teams.

The most successful projects I’ve led weren’t necessarily the most ambitious - they were the ones that found that sweet spot between innovation and realistic execution paths.

Interesting twist: In today’s LLM era, many previous “miracles” in NLP have become “just” difficult engineering challenges. But productionizing these capabilities at scale? That might still count as your one miracle, depending on your requirements. I’m aiming for those LLM productionization to become “business as usual” in my team.