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The Religion of Speed
41–50 of 166 posts
Re: The Religion of Speed
#42Use to work with a pretty jaded Army Colonel. He'd often say: "even periodic motion looks like progress on short enough time scales." And also, "Slow is smooth and smooth is fast."
I remember learning to race on the track. In the sharp turns, you feel like that's where you should try really hard to go fast. Because you're going so slow! But really, it makes more sense to slow down MORE, be smooth and controlled and get the turn right. And you'll get a better drive and be faster later. slow in, fast out. also, the math wins - going 1mph faster on the 1/4-mile straightaway works out better than g…
Being fast is good, if there is not any obstacle on the way)
Re: The Religion of Speed
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would, yes, given how unsustainable the whole AI industry looks like. It would be way, way better if they could figure out their things out before pushing so hard for the whole software world to adopt their experimental tech
if they took their time then billions of people wouldn't have access to it for years and decades. its now super clear that AI is a step improvement in coding, mathematics and other domains. the push for AI has worked out in hindsight. there will always be people who will parrot the METR study and claim productivity didn't increase but its best to ignore them.
I don’t see the problem with the technology not being available widely for way longer as it improves. If you think the current situation is a good one you’re not paying attention to how ridiculous the spending has been on the AI bet. What exists now is not sustainable at all, and is already the cause of a massive worldwide inflation. And so far no proof of improving companies ROI.
The AI push is going to damage our societies for a long time
Re: The Religion of Speed
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
if they took their time then billions of people wouldn't have access to it for years and decades. its now super clear that AI is a step improvement in coding, mathematics and other domains. the push for AI has worked out in hindsight. there will always be people who will parrot the METR study and claim productivity didn't increase but its best to ignore them.
I don’t see the problem with the technology not being available widely for way longer as it improves. If you think the current situation is a good one you’re not paying attention to how ridiculous the spending has been on the AI bet. What exists now is not sustainable at all, and is already the cause of a massive worldwide inflation. And so far no proof of improving companies ROI. The AI push is going to damage our s…
Why do you think the spending is ridiculous? Do you not agree that we've had a step improvement in coding, mathematics, search/retrieval?
Re: The Religion of Speed
#45You can fail a project not because you were technically wrong about anything, but because you burned your customer out by taking 6 months instead of 6 weeks to find a viable solution to their problem. Speed is a feature from the perspective of your customers. There is economic value associated with it. Consider your state of mind when you call the HVAC tech to fix your broken condensing on an August afternoon in Texa…
Of course! The article agrees with you
> Real speed exists. Real speed is what happens when the work is understood, the constraints are clear, the people involved know what they’re doing, and the decisions have been made cleanly enough that execution can happen without constant re-litigation.
I think the article is arguing against speed preventing the kind of planning and alignment that makes smooth delivery possible. Rushing is probably the easiest way to make mistakes that ultimately kill projects, credibility, or at least increase the costs in relational capitol, time and morale. Defaulting to a panicked frenzied state of mind is a perfect way to fail at delivering expedient results.
Re: The Religion of Speed
#46Author, here. Thanks for sharing this!
Reader here. Thanks for creating this. Totally resonates with my own thoughts, so if I'm wrong at least I have company :-)
I do have a suggestion for those who object to this line of reasoning: Follow the 5 why's to try and get to the source of your own reasoning and see whether it still makes more sense - in the sense of whether you end up adding to the common good
Re: The Religion of Speed
#47Author, here. Thanks for sharing this!
Thanks for writing it! It was exactly what I needed to process my frustration with work today.
Re: The Religion of Speed
#48The biggest joke of the entire things is that no one wins by being first anymore. It is not the 1990s. If anything, you win by being a good second. Facebook won because it watched MySpace mistakes and fixed them. There is even less value in being first with this AI-driven nonsense. The first mover just creates the template everyone else feeds into an LLM. You do the hard work. Someone else collects the reward.
Not sure that this is universally true. Youtube, Uber, Airbnb and others all have massive first-mover advantages.
Re: The Religion of Speed
#49This quote is gold: "Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress.”
— Alfred A. Montapert
Re: The Religion of Speed
#50I really love the ideas here. I also wonder if this kind of workplace is a myth. Maybe every business really is a disaster if you look close enough. Or maybe it does happen, once in a while, where a company really hits their stride, but it’s essentially random when they do. Or, maybe I’ve just been working in disasters too long and I’m cynical, hard to say.
I have definitely worked on teams that hit their stride frequently. Definitely not every project or deliverable, but often enough that people got used to it. Unfortunately that was maybe 4 or 5 years ago and I haven't seen it since.