Want to Get More Done? Here's How: Do Less!

with 3 comments

I gave a talk recently about some of the development practices we follow at Cheezburger.  The structure of the talk was a series of questions, one of them being:

Why try to get a lot of stuff done when you could just do one thing instead?

All companies want to get as much done as possible, and most companies try to accomplish this by doing a lot of things.  Our experience has found that doing less things actually results in greater productivity.

We call our approach the “Swarm method”.  I don’t think we invented Swarm, but we’ve found success with it.  In a nutshell, Swarm says that you’re entire team should work on one project at a time until it is complete and has shipped.  Then, like swarm of bees, the team should move to the next project all at once.

What!?  How could this possibly be better than working on many projects at once?  Let me show you how:

  • Imagine you have a team with 5 developers, or 25 dev days per week.
  • Imagine you have five 1 week projects, or 25 dev days of work.
  • In the “Do Lots” method each developer is assigned a project and they’re all done in one week.
  • In the Swarm method, the entire team works on a project for a day and they’re all done in a week.

So, I guess there’s not really a difference, right?  Wrong.  What happens on Tuesday when the boss changes his or her mind about the project priorities.

  • In the Do Lots method, no projects are ready to ship, so two days have been wasted.
  • In the Swarm method, two projects are ready to ship, so a) something got done, and b) no days were wasted.

In short, the moral of the story is:

Being Busy != Being Productive

Furthermore:

Being Productive = Shipping Code

Shipped Code = Opportunity to Create Value

If you’re working in a dynamic, startup environment you cannot afford to waste your time; every moment of your time needs to be focused on creating value for your startup.  And, you cannot afford to be inflexible or you will miss opportunities.  Swarm solves these problems.

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Written by scottporad

June 24th, 2009 at 12:00 am

Posted in Agile, Success, Successful Startups

« How to Launch: Pare Back to the Essentials
For Startups, Launching and Swarm Go Together »

3 Responses to 'Want to Get More Done? Here's How: Do Less!'

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  1. [...] Speaking Want to Get More Done? Here’s How: Do Less! [...]

    For Startups, Launching and Swarm Go Together « Scott Porad

    25 Jun 09 at 12:08 am

  2. Scott! great swarm description. Reminds me that I have to take down the yellow-jacket nest that I chemical-warfared last week.

    Can swarm be modified on an individual level? Could it be argued that if we sat down each morning and mapped out the “one thing” we needed to do that day, that we’d be more successful?

    Aaron Campbell

    27 Jul 09 at 8:18 am

  3. Aaron–

    Yes, swarm can be used on an individual level. In fact, I use it! Click here to read a post that illustrates how I use swarm to stay focused on the most important tasks.

    scottporad

    27 Jul 09 at 8:57 am

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