Slowburn - The hidden virtues of slowness in work and life

Not long ago, product design expert and author at Spice Catalyst, David Fradin who in his heyday worked alongside tech giants like Steve Jobs, graced us with a great discussion on Palindrome's podcast (listen to the full episode here). In the session, he spoke in passing about his prevailing concern with the obsessive culture at Silicon Valley which was predicated on the importance of speed in ingenuity.

The idea of overemphasizing speed was a position that stood directly against many of the core values that Apple - a company of which Mr Fradin was previously a part - sought to establish in order to secure impeccable product design.

David opened up an intriguing line of questioning; In a world that pins us to the undeniable urgency of productivity - exacerbated by the advent of ever-dynamic innovation and technology - what are the implications of work and quality in relation to stipulated rates of production?

How fast do we have to move before everything starts to break down?

Move Fast and Break Things

Much of what this topic has to offer has been covered extensively by author Jonathan Taplin in his popular book 'Move Fast and Break Things'. In it, he chronicles the rise of big tech brand names and inadvertently steps into the nuances of Silicon Valley's modus operandi.

It's no coincidence that the book's title is based on Mark Zuckerberg's famous phrase which encapsulates how current companies (especially in the tech space) favour speed above carefulness. Even if the rate of speed leaves a few issues in its wake, the trade-off for being first in innovation is well worth the cost.

The champions of speed have been paving the way for our current landscape as leaders at the forefront of various global technology movements. Over the past few decades, we have seen an unprecedented rise in innovations such as social media platforms, blockchain technology, and the virtual reality sector.

In fact, the great futurist and author Raymond Kurzweil describes the inevitability of speed playing a big part in societal progress moving forward through the law of accelerated returns which describes how developments in technology move at a faster rate with every passing cornerstone.

This points to a consensus that in order to remain competitive in most economic playing fields, we must be aware of the standard rate of production and abide by its momentum if we don't want to be left out from capturing market share and asserting strong positions as innovators or market leaders.

The quality of outcome dilemma

For all the good points that come with a focus on speed, there are markedly severe points of caution to be wary of.

It's common knowledge that speed can inadvertently affect the quality of outcome in relation to producing good work. Computer scientist and prolific author Cal Newport describes the dichotomy of knowledge work where quality is directly implicated by speed, yet both facets are concurrently in demand by any given market.

In other words, we want things of quality but we also want them produced in a timely fashion. The problem here - a paradox of sorts - is that it takes time to produce good things. The higher the quality we expect of these things, the more time it takes to produce.

The role of the knowledge worker - the developer, the manager, the founder, the writer, the designer, the researcher - is to constantly strive in the challenge of trying the tension between speed and quality, maintaining quality of outcome while abiding by timelines.

This is a very difficult endeavour, and while technology does provide us with tools of efficiency to help solve the knowledge worker's dilemma, the tension still stands. What's more, technology has opened a pandora's box of novel stimuli and constant vying for our attention and focus, making it even harder for us to allocate focus and time on things that matter.

The consequences of rushing important work can be quite high indeed, leading to a desperation that propagates shortcuts, a lack of diligence, or complete incompetence. We've seen financial catastrophes with huge implications on the economy exacerbated by the need to rush product development, or campaigns designed for scaling that ultimately hurt a brand due to poor quality of outcome.

Slow productivity

Psychologist Daniel Kahneman's 2011 book 'Thinking, Fast and Slow' lays out the differentiation between two main modes of thought; System 1 which is fast, instinctive, and emotional, and System 2 which is slower, more deliberative, and more logical.

Both systems are imperative to human thought, and leaving out any one system from the equation can lead to detrimental consequences.

This points to the idea that while being fast is important, being slow can also help to incorporate a more pragmatic and composed thought process into any decision we make.

Cal Newport dedicates a large portion of his teachings to the concepts of slow productivity and deep work, which in essence tells us that taking a little more time to dedicate focus and energy to our work can make a world of difference.

Past a certain point, speed kills creativity, ingenuity, and sustainable outcomes.

We're living in a world now that's dealing with the mistakes of many developments, in the wake of rushing towards an urgency (sometimes manufactured urgency) for high stakes and big promises. It may be time now to consider how slowness can help to reprimand an equilibrium in business, life, economics, and even overarching communication.

Leaders should begin to take initiative and curb the tendency to chase false pretences in the name of speedy progress while neglecting the virtues of diligent slowness.

Slowburn - The hidden virtues of slowness in work and life

-by Khalid Fadzillah