It's Possible To Move Fast Without Breaking Things

Move fast and break things.

You probably recognize this as Mark Zuckerberg’s mantra for the early days of Facebook.

If you don’t recognize that quote, well, it was the mantra from Mark Zuckerberg during the early days of Facebook.

Still not ringing a bell? Here’s a photo of Mark Zuckerberg standing in front of a screen that says “Move fast and break things.”

A photo of Mark Zuckerberg saying “move fast and break things” into a microphone in front of a screen with that same phrase written on it.

The theory goes, that if you aren’t breaking things, you aren’t moving fast enough. That you’re going to be behind. That you’re not a trailblazer or something like that (even though I think Trailblazer is technically Salesforce’s thing now? I can’t keep up).

I think there is a sliver of truth to the mean heart of that motto. Getting stuck in the mire of overthinking, ideas getting caught up in bureaucratic processes and approvals, or waiting for something to be absolutely perfect before moving forward are all things that can not only stifle innovation but even basic mission critical projects.

It’s important to move fast. But you don’t have to light your hair on fire to get big things done quickly.

Don’t Make One Big Project. Make 100 Small Ones.

Okay, maybe not 100 but here’s where I’m going with this.

I work in digital marketing so I’m going to talk about a marketing campaign. Let’s say the end desired result is a flashy campaign landing page and maybe (because I’m in B2B) you want a video, a few thought leadership pieces on there and maybe a contact call-to-action of some kind. It’s easy to keep your attention to worrying about the final product.

But good agile project management looks at little pieces of the project. Sets timelines for each stage and sticks to those deadlines. You have milestones setup to get the first draft of one thought leadership piece done or wireframes of the website done, then when you’ll have a final draft done, when a website will be ready for testing, who will go through user acceptance testing, etc.

Basically, instead of one big campaign, you’re doing a lot of small projects. It’s easier to take tiny bites off a big endeavor.

One reason? Bigger things aren’t nearly as daunting with this approach. Big things are always the culmination of tiny things done well over time.

The other reason? Agility. You will have curveballs. The end result may need to look different than originally designed and making small pivots along the way requires considerably less change management than trying to turn a big ship around.

Done Is Better Than Perfect (Because You’re Never “Done”)

The beauty of digital is that you have some room for error. Few things are permanent.

Let’s look at the campaign page example above. What if we get to a point where we don’t have all the assets we planned on for the page? Do we delay launch?

No.

We go live with what we have. As more and/or different assets become available, we update our page. We’ve now created a dynamic page and kept forward momentum for our marketing campaign.

If you work on digital marketing like me, whether it’s social, web, CRM or all of the above, your projects are never truly “done.” They just hit milestones. You are always iterating those products.

Yes, it’s important to do your best in everything. It’s important to have good quality control and strive for excellence in everything you put out into the world. However, perfectionism can be procrastination in disguise. If you wait for perfect, you’ll never ship.

Be Ready For Something To Go Sideways. Because It Probably Will.

Something will go wrong. It may be a small thing or a big thing but there’s like some law of the universe that says nothing ever goes totally to plan from start to finish.

However, if you take a big project and make it tiny pieces like mentioned above, you are likely only fixing small road bumps instead of one massive one. That’s a lot easier to deal with.

Also, mentally preparing yourself for something to not go to plan helps you deal with it when the time comes. It doesn’t catch you flat footed. You’re ready.

Slow is Smooth. Smooth Is Fast.

Slow is smooth and smooth is fast is a phrase coined from the US Navy SEALS. Only by going slowly and ensuring they are doing things correctly can they perform any tasks with an efficient amount of speed.

If you are diligent and plan your steps ahead of time, you have more time down the road for focusing on the small tasks. The deadlines don’t sneak up on you as often. You aren’t having to rush nearly as often. If you aren’t working in a frenzied state, you can put together a better product. Breaking big things up into little pieces helps you stay focused and be able to quickly pivot or reorient yourself if things do go off track at any point.

Really, you’re looking at long term vision. Moving a bit slower and more diligently at the top will save you a lot of time on the back end of the project because you’re not rushing or putting out self-induced fire drills.

The Navy SEALS work in high pressure, life or death situations. If they can prioritize moving more diligently in their line of work, certainly a digital marketer like myself can find a way to do the same.

Fast Vs. Reckless

Just because you’re moving fast and breaking things doesn’t make you some sort of hero. My three-year-old son can move fast through our house. He can also break things in the process. That doesn’t mean he’s doing something right.

There’s a balance between being efficient without being fast for speed’s sake is the sweet spot. That’s where flow is. And it’s a lot of fun when you can find it.

What do you think? Is it possible to be innovative and fast without the need to break things?