Speed is Power
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Physics defines power as work over elapsed time. The formula is P = W /
(change in t).
While this is the scientific definition of the word "power", the same
definition can apply to business.
The power formula illustrates is why great company leaders are obsessed
with speed. In a very real sense, the faster your business can produce
valuable work, the more power you have.
While I don't consider myself a "great" leader, I am obsessed with
speed - that is - with producing more customer value faster.
Moving fast consistently is struggle, especially in tech, because there
is a constant tension between the business needs in terms of coding and
tech work needing to be done, and how fast coders can work. Great
coders are craftsman who rightly want to take their time and do things
carefully, so this tension between business needs and realistic output
speed develops.
But great companies find a way to balance these two opposing forces,
and are able to deliver features and experiments faster than
competitors. Often much faster. In fact, if you can get fast enough,
speed becomes a bigger advantage than "just" being faster than your
competitors. In some cases, speed opens up new possibilities that
wouldn't otherwise be possible. The possibilities unlocked by speed are
a major reason why small, nimble companies are able to take markets
away from larger, better-staffed and better capitalized big companies.
In theory, the big companies should win, but in practice, the startups
are just too nimble and too fast, and that, in itself, is a game
changer.
IBM should have owned the PC market, but the clone makers were just
faster (that and IBM screwed up by allowing Microsoft to license DOS to
the clone makers). Microsoft should have owned internet search, but
Google iterates faster. And Google should have owned cloud computing
(We talked about the proverbial "Google Drive" and "Google Operating
System" for years), but Amazon was faster. Amazon is an interesting
anomaly because, while being a giant today, they are still fast and
nimble and, incredibly, seem to be getting faster all the time. Every
time Amazon has an announcement event, I am simply flabbergasted at the
number of new cloud computing products they reveal. I suspect their
ability be nimble derives from their intentional culture of only
allowing small, autonomous "two-pizza" teams that must compete in the
real marketplace. In a nutshell, "Amazon" is made up of hundreds of
individual "startups." At least in their cloud computing division.
I read recently that any novice could beat a chess grand-master if the
novice was allowed two moves for each one of the grand-master's moves.
And I suspect that's true.
Imagine moving twice as fast as your competitors.
That level of speed would allow previously un-achievable goals to be
hit. How do you beat the world's best chess player? Move twice as fast.
And while two-to-one moves aren't allowed in chess, they are allowed in
business.
In the book, 7 Powers
, Hamilton Helmer defines one type of Business
power as "Process Power." While he doesn't define process power as
"speed." I think speed is a form of process power and therefore a real
power that will provide your business with a real "moat."
As I've transitioned from a (fast) developer, into a CEO, I've not been
the greatest at building a culture of speed at BoldBrush. It's easy for
me to light a fire under myself, but it's harder for me sometimes to
get others to understand why we need to release something yesterday.
This is totally a deficiency on my part and not on the part of our
truly great team.
I'll elaborate in another article some the traps I've allowed to slow
us down and outline some of the solutions I see that should be
applicable to any technology company team. For now, I'll simply share
that I'm starting to deeply understand why a CEO must invest in very
intentionally building the culture he or she needs to be effective in
the competitive marketplace. It's a communication and culture issue
that starts with the CEO. And it's a skill that I am working very hard
on improving.
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