Home
Starting Up
Case Studies DB
Products
Ideas DB
Vibe Coding Tools
Subscribe to IH+
Starting Up
Case Studies
Ideas DB
Products DB
Sign in
Join
7
Likes
5
Comments
Speed matters: Why working quickly is more important than it seems
by
Sylvan Conner
http://jsomers.net/blog/speed-matters
I find that sometimes, I'm just so excited about a project that I dive in and start coding without even pausing to think about structure or tech stack. Then, hours or days later, I find myself scratching my head and thinking, "Gee, I wonder if I should have moved a little slower and been a bit more thoughtful."
In the article, James makes the point that if we get through tasks quickly, we're able to do more, and the perceived cost of any task is smaller. Makes perfect sense to me. But how do you balance speed with efficiency? I feel like this probably takes a lot of experience and mindfulness.
I feel like it always pays to spend some time organizing and planning before taking action. But maybe 'work faster' could be rephrased as "work smarter". For me, "work smarter" means "be organized, and don't waste time."
Ultimately, diving into projects without enough thought beforehand can lead to a lot of wasted time.
However, I also have to say that there is so much that can only be learned by doing. Prep all you want, there will still be unforeseen obstacles.
I tend to agree with Melissa. "Work faster" is not a particularly helpful mantra unless it is accompanied by actionable steps that will lead to work being done faster. As she points out, organization and planning is usually the key for me to eliminating efforts that aren't in the straightest possible line to my objective.
The author also talks about writing a blog post in hours vs 6 months. This probably has a lot to do with how you define what a finished blog post looks like. What is your MVP? If you are spending 6 months on every post, then perhaps you should redefine your metric.
I love this article, thanks for sharing. Good advice and the writing is sharp & funny. My favorite type of articles are these "self-reflection out loud" types.
Indeed work faster is good advice, but it needs to be part of an ecosystem of other mantras. I don't think James means "do this and only this and success will come knocking".
"Work fast" is just what I need to read. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Sylvan! Here's some great accounts of why speed matters: bit.ly/3BVbdee
This comment was deleted 4 years ago