
What’s the Fastest Way to do This?
It’s a question everyone gets asked a lot. What’s the fastest way to do this? What’s the fastest way to get 1,000 more customers? What’s the fastest way to cut cost over the next six months? What’s the fastest way to gain 8.5% more market share?
We’ve all been on the receiving end of questions that stress on the importance of speed and urgency of a particular task at hand. The problem is, when you’re thinking about speed, you’re putting effectiveness and efficiency as second and third priorities. So while there might be a “fastest” way to gain 1,000 more customers — perhaps you’ll lose 600 of them in three months. Perhaps you’ll cut cost in six months, but see a sudden growth in cost in the following fourteen. Perhaps you’ll gain 8.5% market share in two months, but might suddenly lose 15% of it over the course of a year. All because of chasing after a “fast” solution.
The issue with most fast solutions is that they’re short-term almost by design, and end up causing more harm than good. A quick burst here and a rapid burst there, and you see a great monetary splurge here and massive employee burnout there.

Instead of asking what’s the fastest way to do something, ask what the most effective way of doing something is instead. The trouble is, people that end up in situations where they demand a fast solution don’t necessarily see the logic in debating a fast versus effective solution. The easiest way to deal with these people is to tell them the potential future problem along with the fast solution.
“The fastest way would be to do X. We’d gain 8.5% more market share in the next three months, but we’re likely to lose a greater amount of market share, perhaps around 15%, as a result over the following eight months if we do end up doing X. We’ll be in a situation where we’re looking to cover up a greater loss than we have in our current market position, in a more desperate manner before the end of the year.”
An argument like that is usually met with a sudden swing in the scale, where the person asking for the solution defers to you for a solution instead, realising that perhaps they’re too close to the problem, too invested in it and you’re a more balanced person to make the call. At that point you can recommend something far more logical and long standing, which would probably take longer and hopefully cost less.
Or they ask for the second fastest. And then the third fastest. And you keep going around in circles until you finally reach the eighth fastest way, which is the most effective way.
Or you get a wave of a hand and a quick dismissal, and you’re forced into executing the fastest solution anyway. These companies don’t last long.
The fastest way to do something is seldom the most effective way, and the most effective way to do something is seldom the fastest way.
Stop worrying about, asking for, and searching for the fastest solutions to problems. Look for the most effective solutions instead.
