Slow Down

Photo by Michal Balog on Unsplash

Do you feel like you have enough time? Are your days relaxed, with ample breaks for reflection? Or instead, do you have a stack of books and saved articles you’ll never read? A todo list the bleeds off the page? Is Inbox zero always one day away?

On product teams, we obsess over falling behind the competition and rush towards first-mover advantage. After all, the great Andy Grove taught us that ‘only the paranoid survive’. So we work — no, we sprint. We rush towards something, anything. ‘Idle hands are the devil’s workshop’, or so they say. But what’s wrong with a bit of downtime?

My best days, and therefore my best work, require a bit of space — some time to reflect. Pauses to deeply consider, both in conversation and in writing, what matters most. Less gas pedal and more map.

We all longingly look at the Amazon culture of the 6-page memo. Oh to have everyone quietly read before a meeting instead of delivering hot takes in real-time. We see how the penned memo can bring everyone up to speed, but we miss the real power of the written word — deep thought.

To create the written document, someone had to take the time to work through the ideas first. In most companies, considered opinions are rare — jotting a few bullets on a slide is par for the course. We set our sights too low and our hurried pace removes deep work as an option. Slack, chat, and Zoom fill out calendars, and with the remaining slices in between, we burn down our email. We don’t just respond, we triage.

“Ambiguity is a symptom of immediacy.” — Ann Handley

Take a step back. Prune your calendar. Skip a meeting. Write. Read. Draw. Take a walk. The world will be there when you return — the same as it always was, but perhaps you will be changed. Better for the break. A little calmer and a tad smarter.

Slow down.

Like articles on building product? Subscribe to receive by email.