Turn Open Loops into Rocket Fuel for Product Teams
In product development, momentum is everything. But staying focused in a sea of Slack pings, shifting priorities, and half-finished initiatives? That’s the real challenge. The Zeigarnik Effect, a psychological insight discovered nearly a century ago, can help leaders and teams harness the power of unfinished tasks to build better habits, fuel creative flow, and improve execution. Whether you're shipping software, scaling operations, or leveling up your team’s routines, this mental model might be your most underused tool.
The Psychology Behind Product Momentum
The Zeigarnik Effect, named after psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik, explains why our minds fixate on incomplete tasks more than completed ones. In business, this often manifests as nagging project debt or chronic to-do list overload. But there's a flip side. According to Baumeister & Masicampo (2011), these open loops can motivate action, if we set them up right. For founders and product leaders, using this insight strategically can unlock higher team engagement, creativity, and resilience.
Case Study: The Harley in the Living Room
Before we talk apps and agile boards, let’s talk grease and gasoline. Elijah once rebuilt a Harley engine in his tiny San Francisco apartment. He never had time to finish it in one sitting, but that was the magic. Each unfinished work session left his brain craving closure. That persistent pull to complete the task became its own motivation system. The same principle applies to building software, starting marketing campaigns, or developing habits in your org.
5 Ways to Build Habits with Open Loops
1. Never Fully Finish a Task
In product design or content creation, stop mid-flow. Leave a screen half-mocked or a user story half-written. Your brain, and your team, will be eager to jump back in. This primes productivity at the next work session.
2. Start Small, and Stop Early
Launching a new process? Ask the team to write one insight, sketch one solution, or create one onboarding flow. Then stop. Momentum comes from desire to finish what’s been started.
3. Use “In Progress” Indicators
Swap your “Done” checkboxes for “In Motion” tags on internal tools like Notion, Linear, or Jira. This keeps psychological tension alive and encourages timely follow-through.
4. End on a Cliffhanger
When you hit a creative high, don’t push through. Stop. Let your team return to a ripe, open thread. Like Netflix episodes, cliffhangers keep attention and drive return engagement.
5. Channel Restlessness Into Progress
That nagging sense of “we’re not done yet”? Don’t squash it. Train your team to use that cognitive tension as fuel. Build rituals that leave space for that energy to convert into execution.
Product Leaders: Don’t Close the Loop (Yet)
Most productivity systems focus on efficiency and completion. But in creative and technical work, the right amount of incompletion can be a strategy. The Zeigarnik Effect invites you to design systems, both for yourself and your team, that lean into our natural mental wiring.
Want help applying this to your product or strategy? We’re ready when you are → Let's get started.
