Do you have to plan things? At work? In life? Often we hear about how we need to take action quickly, but in this episode I want to talk about how taking your time can save you a lot of time, stress, and even money.
“Patience is the companion of wisdom.”
—Marcus Aurelius
I worked in software for over 25 years. In that time there was always this attitude that we needed to just get coding whenever we started working on something. The thinking behind this was that we could spend weeks and months planning something, only to find that our plans didn’t work or missed something so the best thing to do was to just start working on it and fix mistakes and overcome obstacles as we went. This is a common idea in software circles and even enshrined at companies like Facebook with mottos like, “Move fast and break things”.
But last week I listened to a book called, “How Big Things Get Done”, by Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner, and he talked about the concept of thinking slow and acting fast, and it shifted, well, my thinking. The idea is that you should take as much time as you need in planning to suss out any and all possible setbacks and obstacles as much as possible. This includes all areas of a project including resources, skills, knowledge, political considerations, and even possible unforeseen events.
So today, I want to talk about some of the ideas from this book and how they can be of use to you whether you’re working on a side hustle or building a skyscraper. Now I know my podcasts are usually about how to apply Stoicism in your everyday life, and you may be wondering why I would talk about planning projects. But an important part of this podcast is about gaining knowledge and sharing tools and ideas from wherever I can to help you live a more fulfilling life.
So with that in mind, I think this type of thinking can be incredibly helpful in both personal and professional endeavors that you want to take on. And let’s be honest, we all have projects at both work and personally that we want to accomplish so when I find something that can help, I feel obligated to share. Plus, it’s very much in line with Stoicism to think deeply and contemplate things before we act on them. “Think slow, act fast” is very Stoic.
Start With Why
"If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable."
—Seneca
The first thing you need to do when you start out on a project is as to ask yourself the real reason why you want to start it. The purpose of this is to really understand what your end goals are, rather than just focusing on an outcome you want. For example, In the book, Bent talks about how the famous architect Frank Gehry sat down with the city planners to understand why the they wanted to build the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao Spain. Their why came down to building a museum that would attract tourists and help revitalize the city. This meant that the location itself had to be located in a place that had an excellent view. It meant that the building itself would have to be a work of art, not just a place to display art. By understanding what the actual end goal was, it helped to set some of the most important parameters of the project.
When we have a clear why, then it’s far easier to evaluate whether the actions we’re taking align with the end goal we’re trying to achieve. Any time we want to add something to the project, we can ask, “Does this help align with the ‘Why’ of what I’m working on?” If it doesn’t then we don’t add it. We say no as much as possible to make sure we’re able to accomplish the main goal.
I saw this mistake time and time again in software development. We’d set out the basic features for a new project and plan them out the best we could. Later in the project, someone would think up a cool feature that we would get excited about, without ever really asking if it really contributed to the end goal. Over time as more and more features were added, also called scope creep, the timelines would slip and projects would be delivered late and over budget.
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Slowing down and planning has always been one of my weaknesses. I’m a very experiential learner so I like to jump in and just start working on something and figuring it out as I go along. Now this is not a bad skill to have. It often helps me overcome procrastination and feel like I’m making progress. But often, I run into parts that are challenging, and because I didn’t take the time to think through possible setbacks, it can cause me to lose interest and give up.
This is why Seneca advises, “Everyone faces up more bravely to a thing for which he has long prepared himself, sufferings even, being withstood if they have been trained for in advance. Those who are unprepared, on the other hand, are panic-stricken by the most insignificant happenings.”
Risk mitigation is so important, because there are plenty of things that can sideline a project. By taking time to practice the Stoic concept of premeditatio malorum, the “premeditation of evils”, and thinking through all the possible setbacks and coming up with ways to overcome them, there’s a higher probability you’ll be able to keep your momentum going. When obstacles appear, you’ve already taken them into account and have a solution at the ready.
Black Swans
“So I look for the best and am prepared for the opposite.”
—Seneca
While we’re on the topic of planning for the worst, black swan events are ones that come out of the blue, and are extremely hard to plan for. Pandemics, earthquakes and other natural disasters, and health emergencies are just a few. But the more you can think about the worst case scenarios, even the ones that seem very unlikely, the more you’ll be able to see weak spots in your planning, and consider if there are inexpensive ways to mitigate the risks.
For example, good software developers keep versions of their code in data centers in the cloud which have multiple redundant backups. Part of their process includes checking in their code changes each day. This ensures that if disaster strikes at the office or something happens to a developer, their code is easy to retrieve. This inexpensive process can save tremendous amounts of time, and often is the key to whether a company survives when disaster strikes.
Make Your Mistakes in Planning
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
—Seneca
The more mistakes you can make and uncover in the planning process, the easier it is to fix them. Experimenting where the stakes are low and the cost is cheap is one of the best ways you can make sure that your project will be successful. For example, if you’re architecting a building using paper or models or even drafting software, it’s far easier to try out ideas and quickly change them. Whereas if you are trying things out while you’re building the structure, it’s far more difficult, and significantly more expensive. By iterating through many different versions when it’s easy to change them, you’ll be more likely to discover flaws and potential pitfalls.
As an example in my own life, when I started working on my book, the first task was to create a table of contents. Before I even started typing a chapter, I knew what I was going to write about in the next few months. I knew topics I needed to research, and had a list of quotes and stories that I wanted to include. This is how I was able to write most of the book in less than 3 months. By mapping out of all the chapters I needed to write, I was able to be sure that I covered all the topics I wanted and to find where some ideas overlapped too closely and replace them with others. Even with this planning I did find some chapters were too closely related and replaced them with others, but this only happened with 3 chapters. Planning for the win!
Minimum Viable Product
Now, in the world of startups there is a big push to get a minimum viable product up and out in beta. You might think that this approach goes against planning things out and finding the mistakes early. But I would argue that this process of creating a product quickly that isn’t finished and getting out to potential customers quickly goes along with this idea. The rapid paces of changes and features are all about figuring out what works and what doesn’t is a cheap and quick way to iterate through ideas. You’ll also getting customer feedback and getting crucial data and knowledge. I would submit that this is really part of a planning phase. It’s fast prototyping. It’s the same as an architect building models to see if an idea will actually work.
Another example is this podcast. When I started this podcast, I did so with the idea that I would create a practice podcast so that I could learn how to create and run a podcast in order to get the skills to start a real podcast. It was only when this took off and I kept getting messages from listeners all over the world about how useful they found it that I decided to make this into something bigger. Because I had no expectations that it would ever be successful, my first 50-60 episodes where just me trying out things and seeing what worked and what didn’t. It was my laboratory and a space where I could make mistakes, and also get over some of the fear and anxiety that had stopped me from creating a podcast years earlier.
Looking back on it now, I could have done some more research and done some more planning, which would have helped me avoid some of the mistakes I made along the way. But in my case, it was just a practice so I didn’t have an idea of what my end goal was, so there wasn’t any particular outcome or standard I was trying to achieve. It was just my way of learning how to make a podcast.
Learn From Others
“Don’t be ashamed of needing help. You have a duty to fulfill just like a soldier on the wall of battle. So what if you are injured and can’t climb up without another soldier’s help?
—Marcus Aurelius
Another important aspect to being successful in your endeavor, to ask for help when you need it. For example, you can find a good mentor to help you in areas where you are weak. You can also find someone else who has done something similar and ask them how they accomplished it. There is very little that is completely original, so if you can learn from others successes and failures, that can take you a long way towards accomplishing your goal. There’s no need to reinvent a process if it already exists. Take what others have done, and find ways to refine it and make it better.
This can help you estimate your time and costs far better than just pulling it from your own imagination. Even if you’re an expert in what you’re working on, learning from the experience of others can help refine your own skills at planning and estimating. You might find factors that you didn’t take into account in your own planning, or find even better ways to do it.
Execution
Now that we’ve talked bit about planning, let’s talk about executing your plans. Once you have battle plan, it makes it far easier to actually get your plan into action. You’ve figured out the resources you need, you know what the ultimate goal is, and you know where to start. Now it’s orchestrating the pieces to come together in the right order to bring your project to life. But there are a few things to keep in mind before you begin.
Hire a Master
If you’re not a master at what you doing, or maybe there’s a part of it that is not in your skillset, find a way to hire someone who is. Or if it’s something that you can do, but in the long run it would be cheaper and faster to higher someone else to do it for you. Your enemy in executing your plan is time. This is why you spend most of your time in planning, so that you can execute quickly. If it’s a big project, the faster you can deliver it also insulates you from black swan events.
For example, if you’re starting a podcast and you have no idea how to edit one, hire someone who can. If you need a website, hire someone who has done excellent and on time work in the past. If you’re writing software that branches out into an area that is not in your domain of expertise, see if you can find someone who already has that knowledge. Learning on the job is okay, but when you want to deliver quickly, doing it yourself can often bog down a project, leading to missed deadlines and costing you more in the end.
Use What Already Works
Another key consideration is using things that already work. Don’t go for new shiny and untested tools and resources, unless there is no other option and it is key to delivering your project. For example, if you need project management software, use one that already exists and is well proven. Need a website hosting solution? Go for one that has a great track record. Most of what you need is probably already out there, so don’t introduce risk into your project if you don’t have to. Use what works.
Dealing with Setbacks
“A setback has often cleared the way for greater prosperity. Many things have fallen only to rise to more exalted heights.”
—Seneca
When you have setbacks, there are a number of things you can do. More than anything, the most important aspect of dealing with setbacks is to worry less about who is to blame, and focus on rationally digging in and finding the root cause. Casting blame is easy, whether that’s on other people or on external circumstances, but it wastes a lot of time and energy. Accept that something is not working as expected and move as fast as possible to understanding why. Once you have a clear understanding of the root cause then you can start working on a solution for it.
Any time you’re working on a project, one of the most important things is to look at your time estimates. Often, we are overly optimistic in what we think we can accomplish. It’s possible that there is nothing wrong with the delivery, it’s just that our expectations were incorrect. This is why it’s important to comparing what you’re working on with other similar projects can be incredibly helpful to set realistic expectations.
Once you’ve taken your expectations into account, then start looking at what other factors might be causing delays. Maybe there are unforeseen challenges that you didn’t even know to plan for. When these arise, then you you may need to go back into planning and come up with wit a viable solution. Also, when you’re working on these unforeseen issues, see if others have run into the same obstacle and figure out how you might use their solution. If it’s something completely new, then you may have just discovered a problem no one else has encountered or solved. This may be an opportunity to develop an expertise that others don’t have but might need.
You should also take the time to see if you have all the tools and skills to accomplish the tasks. If you don’t have the proper resources you’re asking for the impossible of others or yourself. For example, on a software team this could be a slow computer or not having the right software or coding knowledge needed. For starting podcast it could mean that your don’t have a high enough quality microphone or a quiet and insulated space to record to have a more clean and professional sound.
Conclusion
Taking time to thoroughly plan and think through things before you act on them is essential for accomplishing the things you want to in your life. Whether at work or in your personal life, the idea of thinking slow and acting fast are very much in line with Stoic teachings. That we should take our time and consider all the options and possible pitfalls before acting can help us to more reliably complete the things we’re working on. So think slowly, act fast.
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