Speed as a Habit
TL;DR: Dave Girouard, CEO of Upstart and former President of Google Enterprise Apps, argues that speed is the defining characteristic of market leaders. He breaks down business activity into two components: making decisions and executing on decisions. For decision-making, he advocates setting explicit deadlines upfront, recognizing that WHEN a decision is made matters more than the perfect choice. For execution, he recommends challenging due dates habitually, removing dependencies, eliminating cognitive overhead by tackling complex pieces first, and using competition as urgency fuel. The article provides specific tactics from Google and Upstart, including the story of Tim Cook sending someone to China immediately during a meeting about a production issue.
Key Insights
- WHEN a decision is made is more important than WHAT decision is made - set explicit deadlines from the start
- Challenge every due date by asking 'Why cannot this be done sooner?' as a habitual practice
- Most decisions are easily reversible - treat only truly fatal decisions with extra caution
- Eliminate cognitive overhead by getting founder/CEO input early rather than guessing throughout a project
- Gauge team comfort to know if you are going fast enough - low-level discomfort means good pace, visible stress means too fast
Actionable Takeaways
- Start every decision-making process by deciding WHEN the decision will be made, not just what it is
- Ask 'Why cannot this be done sooner?' for every item on your critical path
- Identify and tackle the most complicated piece of a project first to reduce cognitive overhead for everything else
- Get explicit input from key stakeholders (founders, legal, etc.) upfront rather than dancing around what they might think
- Use the 'CEO prerogative' sparingly to end debates and accept responsibility for difficult calls
Principles Validated (8)
Decide WHEN you will decide before debating WHAT to decide
Dave Girouard (Upstart / Google)
Treat most decisions as reversible to move faster without recklessness
Dave Girouard (Google)
Gauge team comfort as your organizational speedometer
Dave Girouard (Google)
End debates decisively - people are relieved when leaders accept responsibility for calls
Dave Girouard (Upstart)