Everyone Is “Building in Public” and Nobody Is Building Anything

The internet loves a good trend, and "building in public" is one that’s sticky. Everywhere you look, people are tweeting their daily progress, sharing loom videos of half-baked ideas, and documenting every single decision. It feels like everyone is on stage, shouting about their process. But here’s the thing: after watching this play out for years, I'm starting to wonder if the show has overshadowed the actual construction. Are we really *building* things, or are we just really good at *talking about building*? Because often, it looks like a lot of performance and very little tangible output. ## Quick take * "Building in public" often prioritizes performance over genuine creation. * The constant need to share can derail deep work and focus. * It creates an illusion of progress without necessarily leading to tangible products. * Your "audience" probably cares more about results than daily updates. * Authentic transparency is valuable; performative transparency is draining. * Sometimes, the best way to build is to simply… build, quietly. ## The Performance Trap There’s a powerful pull to share every step. It promises community, feedback, and maybe even early customers. But for many, it morphs into something else: a performance. You’re no longer just working; you’re working *for an audience*. This subtle shift changes everything. You start polishing drafts you’d normally scrap. You explain basic decisions just to fill airtime. The focus moves from "how do I solve this problem?" to "how do I present myself solving this problem?" It's a mental tax on top of your actual work, draining energy better spent elsewhere. ### Why we get sucked in 1. Validation: Instant feedback loops can feel good, like a digital pat on the back. 2. Visibility: Hoping to catch the eye of investors, partners, or future users. 3. Accountability (perceived): Thinking public commitments force you to follow through. 4. Community: The desire to connect with like-minded individuals. All valid desires, but the "how" matters. If the *how* involves constant, uncritical sharing, the downsides often outweigh the upsides. You spend more time crafting the narrative of your journey than actually taking meaningful steps on that journey. The "building" becomes secondary to the "public." ## What Does "Building" Actually Mean Anymore? When I hear "build in public," I picture someone literally assembling something piece by piece, inviting people to watch. What I often see is someone talking about *planning* to assemble something, then talking about *finding the pieces*, then talking about *organizing the pieces*, and then… silence, or a pivot to a new "build in public" project. Real building involves: * Deep, uninterrupted focus. * Messy, ugly first drafts. * Failed experiments nobody ever sees. * Long stretches of silent iteration. These aren't glamorous. They don't make for good social media threads. So what gets shared? The easy stuff. The "I just created a landing page!" or "Look at my new brand colors!" These are components, sure, but not the core *creation*. ## My Setup / Context I’ve been involved in various "creator economy" adjacent spaces for years, both personally and professionally. I’ve launched tiny projects, worked on bigger initiatives, and watched countless others do the same. I've fallen into the trap myself, believing that consistent public updates would somehow accelerate things. My experience comes from trying to launch a small software tool, writing a short ebook, and even just trying to learn a new skill like coding. In each case, the urge to "show my work" often coincided with procrastination on the actual work. I’d spend an hour formatting a tweet about my progress instead of spending that hour *making* progress. It was a subtle, insidious form of self-sabotage, masquerading as productivity. I learned that for me, the crucial stages of deep work and problem-solving required quiet. They required obscurity. When the audience was implied, my brain was split: half on the problem, half on how I'd explain the problem-solving process later. It rarely led to better solutions. ## Who Is This For (and Not For)? "Building in public" isn't inherently bad. It just has specific use cases where it genuinely shines. | Good Fit For | Less Ideal For | | :----------------------------------------- | :-------------------------------------------------- | | Open-source projects (community contribution) | Early-stage product development (rapid iteration) | | Learning a *specific* skill (e.g., coding challenge) | Deep creative work (writing a novel, composing music) | | Transparent company culture (internal processes) | Developing proprietary IP (competitive advantage) | | Post-mortem analysis / sharing lessons learned | Initial problem discovery / user research | If your core goal is genuinely collaborative, or if the "product" *is* the process (e.g., documenting a complex scientific experiment), then by all means. But for most solopreneurs and small teams trying to bring something new into the world, it's often a distraction. ## What I’d Recommend Instead Instead of broadcasting every twitch, consider a more strategic, results-oriented approach. Focus on the actual building, then share the *outcomes* and *insights*. ### Build in Silence, Share with Purpose 1. Prioritize Deep Work: Schedule uninterrupted blocks of time where you are simply *creating*. Turn off notifications. Close social media. Don't even *think* about how you'll explain it later. Just do the work. 2. Define Milestones: Instead of daily updates, set clear, internal milestones. A launched feature, a completed chapter, a user-tested prototype. These are actual points of progress. 3. Share the "What," Not the "How": Once you hit a milestone, then you can share. "We launched X!" "Chapter 3 is done!" "Here's what we learned from our first 10 users." 4. Offer Post-Mortems, Not Live Streams: After shipping, reflect. What went well? What went wrong? What would you do differently? *This* kind of sharing is incredibly valuable and honest. It's built on actual experience, not speculation or ongoing performance. 5. Curated Transparency: If you *do* want to build a community, share behind-the-scenes glimpses strategically. A weekly summary, a monthly update, or a specific "lessons learned" thread. Make it additive, not performative. It’s about understanding the difference between genuine transparency and incessant chatter. One builds trust and provides value; the other often creates noise and slows you down. Your job isn't to entertain with your process; it's to deliver a valuable product or idea. Focus on that, and the rest will follow.