I read an interesting blog post this morning by Brad Feld on his personal blog, Feld Thoughts (A fantastic blog, by the way, and highly recommended reading to all tech startups). The thesis in the post was around “Slowing Down To Speed Up“.
In a few brief words, the post had to do with burnout and how slowing down once in a while can actually keep your overall speed up. It’s kind of the old Tortoise and the Hare story, which says that slow and steady wins the race. Let’s face it – no human can possibly go 100% forever. Productivity is just like physical exercise – you experience fatigue and need to rest.
But does the Tortoise really always win? And how can we apply this logic to a tech startup?
Normalizing productivity
I have a tendency to think about things in mathematical terms so stick with me while I do some ‘splaining.
When I read the post, the first thing that came to my mind was this type of graph right here:
Should you be the red line or the blue line?
From a purely theoretical standpoint, I have two lines in this graph – the blue line (the Hare), which represents a huge outburst of energy followed by a complete tanking of productivity as a result of burnout. The second red line (the Tortoise) shows a more metered approach to productivity that is fairly straight and level.
In early Time, the Hare gets more done. The work the Hare does above and beyond the Tortoise is represented by the area shaded in yellow. However, as Time progresses and burnout sets in for the Hare, the Tortoise pulls ahead, and is more productive than the Hare – represented by the area shaded in green.
Now, who actually gets more done?
Brad’s post postulates that the Tortoise gets more done* – i.e. the green area exceeds the yellow area. While this certainly can be the case, I think there are a lot of other factors involved that need to be considered.
*definitely not suggesting Brad is saying that slowpokes get more done. It’s a metaphor, OK? He means (from my interpretation) that a metered approach actually speeds up work.
How long is Time?
Let’s say the timeline is shorter. Half the time. All of a sudden, the graph looks like this:
In a sprint, the Hare may win!
If there is really an end date on what the product / project is; then it may be that the Hare wins, particularly if that duration is close to the productivity intersection between the Tortoise and the Hare during burnout.
On the flip side, if Time is indefinite – and let’s face it – a tech startup (and even applied more broadly to your entire life) – is normally longer than the single burnout cycle shown in the first graphs; the graph may more realistically looks something like this:
In this example, the Tortoise wins over time
You have to take into account all the burnout cycles and add them up over time to really see efficiency. But alas, it’s not that easy!
Not all Hares and Tortoises are the same
There are slow Hares and fast Tortoises (Well, maybe they are pretty close, but for the sake of this post just bear with me. It’s a metaphor for humans, OK?!).
Every person is different. Some superhuman entrepreneurs are way up on the Y-axis of productivity here. Others have less dramatic crashes as Time progresses. For some a burnout cycle may be a week. For others it may be two months. (or any other time duration, really!).
In the last graph, we showed the productivity over two “burnout” cycles, with the Tortoise being ahead. But this again depends on the individual and the project. The graph might also look something like this:
In this example, the Hare beats out the Tortoise, even over time
In the example here, the Hare is pulling ahead. I’m willing to bet some people operate like this. Some of that yellow is what developers call the “zone”. Cram sessions where productivity just explodes.
Productivity isn’t an On / Off switch – maybe the Mouse wins the race!
The examples presented so far assume some level of normalcy over the course of time and assume workload is consistent. In reality, businesses experience crunch periods and (comparatively) slow periods. This impacts the way the graph looks. Also, not everyone is necessarily leveled out over time – sometimes the productivity line trends downwards, and sometimes it trends upwards.
Beyond that, it’s important to aslo remember that there are more than just a Hare and a Tortoise in the race. There may be something in between, like a Mouse, whose cycles are less dramatic and may be higher or lower on the X-axis overall (which is what really determines how much productivity is generated).
Stop and smell the flowers, would ya?
There really isn’t a right answer, and there is more too it than just productivity. For example, Brad astutely points out that being the Hare may also result in having your head so far into the game that you can’t see the forest for the trees. There isn’t even an easy way to represent that on a two dimensional graph, but suffice it to say this is very true. Even if your productivity is up as the Hare, does it do you any good if it results in producing something that no one wants? Stepping back and giving some perspective can make your productivity more effective – even if the output is somewhat less.
There is no right answer. Every situation is different, every startup is different, and every founder is different. There are so many variables out there that this post could fill a textbook – but most entrepreneurs have an innate understanding of these types of variables and know how it impacts them. An expression almost everyone has heard is that you should “stop and smell the flowers” - as entrepreneurs, we often want to try and smell every flower in the field.
Remember, there is life outside a startup, so do get out there and experience some of that as well. You might be surprised with how it impacts you. Even if you are a Hare.
