Speed is the result, not the rule

The tantamount conventional startup wisdom is to build small and build fast. I don’t disagree with this sentiment, but I do think many companies have run into the “as soon as a metric becomes a goal, it’s no longer a good metric”. Many companies expect their team members to work fast, but often it forces them into a position of prioritizing speed above happiness, curiosity, planning, and quality. I prefer the belief that speed is the result, not the rule. If you have a framework for consistently shipping, and your team is healthy, motivated, and inspired, speed will take care of itself. As a leader, if speed is not what you want it to be (and more than likely it won’t be), I err on the side of first ruthlessly reprioritizing, and if that doesn’t work to hire, and if that doesn’t work to be transparent with the team on where we’re at, and let them know what crunching will and wont get us