The dip in momentum (and why it’s normal in product work)

There’s a point in almost every project where you look at the work, the board, the progress, the output… and think:

“We should be further along by now.”

This is similar to the moment Seth Godin describes as The Dip:

“The Dip is the long slog between starting and mastery.”

Every project has this point - the excitement of early discovery has passed, the big value has already been found and articulated, but the payoff isn’t visible yet. It feels slower. It feels flat. It feels like we’re lacking momentum.

This isn’t a red flag.

This is the dip.

It’s the messy middle. The most important part of product delivery, because the middle is where reality gets negotiated. Not ideas. Not strategy. Reality.

Why this happens

Humans over-index the emotional energy of beginnings and endings. Starting feels great. Launching feels great. The middle feels ambiguous, frictional and heavy. In that zone, clarity isn’t gifted, it has to be manufactured.

In my work with teams, this dip isn’t a failure state. It’s the inflection point that tells you the next move is not to add more ideas, it’s to tighten and commit.

Stakeholders make this worse (innocently)

This dip is exactly when stakeholders want updates. Or want to measure velocity. Or want to see proof the thing is working. And ironically — that can make the dip feel worse. Because you now need to narrate value at the exact moment it’s hardest to see.

Which is why I recommend living documentation - not decks.

Share the state of the product where the product itself is updated:

• Notion
• Linear project pages
• PRDs with status tags
• Decision logs
• Active context

Because then what you show stakeholders is current truth, not presentation theatre.

Also: meetings slow momentum more than the work does

Most organisations run weekly meetings because it’s standard. Progress then unconsciously anchors to that meeting cadence.

My recommendation: move to 2-week sprints.

This creates more time to make meaningful material progress, and less wasted prep time for weekly status ritual.

Momentum should be anchored to loops of build/validate/learn, not calendar rhythm.

The dip is where product becomes real

When you hit that point and think:

“Are we stuck or just in the dip?”

assume you’re in the dip.

And the move here is: shorten the loop, tighten the scope, reduce the next proof to something extremely concrete.

Teams that learn to recognise the dip early, and adjust their operating rhythm around it, ship better product, faster, with less panic.

Because momentum isn’t about pace.

Momentum is about evidence.