Having problems? It might be your socks.
One of my pet peeves is the phrase “we don’t get enough time to do it right/better/well”. And I’m as guilty as anyone for using it. But these days while I understand the underlying need, a want for pride in workmanship and not doing shoddy work. I’ve also taken to hear something completely different, and slightly less defeatist: “we’re not skilled enough to go that fast”.
We tend to forget that it’s often the case that those more skilled create better work, faster. Just like a better trained athlete, the answer to not being able to run, throw, jump better, within reason, is as much about figuring out ways to improve as to ask for more time to get it done.
Thus the question becomes how do we figure out how to make things better, within the constraints given? How do we find the path forward?
I’ve found the way ahead, often lies by going back and improving the foundation. Performance can often easily be visualized as some sort of pyramid where lower levels provide the foundation for those above.
That also means that more complex activities often depend on complicated ones that rest upon things that are often seen as obvious. In any case what we need to keep in mind are two heuristics:
- There’s a diminishing return of investment for improvement beyond the sufficient at the foundational level.
- If you find yourself in trouble or at a performance plateau it’s most likely the constraint is (at least) one level lower than where you’re struggling.
This essentially means that when you find yourself at an impasse, or hear yourself concluding that what’s desired is outside of current capabilities. Ask what’s the biggest problem? And what foundational improvement would alleviate the constraint?
Surprisingly often it comes down to consistency, and awareness of weak signals. If you can’t keep in the game, you can’t improve. This is where the socks comes in:
This is why when asked for running advice my first question is “do you consistently run 3–4 times a week?”, if not simply getting to that point will have a much bigger impact than focusing on the difference between short and long intervalls or the sequencing of long runs vs tempo sessions. Focus on the foundation first. The add detail.
If your project is moving slower than you’d like, maybe complexity is eating you. Have you reduced duplication? Really? Have you named all the things well? Have you removed unnecessary parts?
I’m sure you can see this dynamic all around you if you start looking. The thing holding you back, those painful blisters you’re now trying to fix came due to some earlier oversight, find it, fix it. Unleash your potential.
