Festina Lente (make haste slowly)

Issue 138:Smooth speed is a differentiator

Apr 9

Happy Sunday. This week adjourned my time at Webflow. After nearly four years, it was time to say goodbye. It's wild to think the last two places of my career (Webflow and One Medical) have been eight years of my life and the majority of my 30s. It's been an incredible run and I will miss my team so dearly. I’ll write a reflection about my time there, but that’s for another time. Today is about one of my favorite sayings, "Festina Lente" and how I apply it to my life and work.

In elementary school, my holy trinity of computer games on the Apple II were O'Dell Lake, Number Munchers, and Oregon Trail. Though there are many permutations of Oregon Trail, the classic is the game on the Apple II. One of the iconic elements of the game is you picked what pace you and your family would take in navigating the game.

I always opted for the grueling pace to beat the game in record time. What typically happened was me getting my family killed, not through dysentery or snake bites, but drowning or exhaustion. Moving fast is important, but as my elementary school teacher said, “haste makes waste.” The cost of doing things fast can result in triumph or failure based on the outcome. There is a Latin saying, "Festina Lente" which translates to "Make haste slowly" (also sometimes translated as "more haste, less speed"). I like to move fast, but I don't like being rushed and feeling out of control.

The anchor and dolphin mark symbolizes the phrase, Festina Lente, Latin for “make haste slowly” or “hasten slowly.” The dolphin represents “haste,” and the anchor represents “slowly.” The Roman emperor Augustus often told his military commanders to “hasten slowly” as he thought rashness was dangerous.

Image of a dolphin wrapped around an anchor

This iconic Latin phrase was later adapted by the US Navy SEALs: “slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.” Slow is smooth challenges hurry sickness; the feeling of feeling too rushed and stressed—treating everything like a race. There is nothing more annoying to me than when people say "ASAP" or say "We need to move faster" and have no clue how to articulate what needs to get done. Recklessness for SEALs means getting killed. Though working in tech is remotely nothing like combat, the result of recklessness has negative implications as well. If you ever feel the hurry sickness, stop. Take a deep breath and force the world to slow down to your pace. Will the world to your speed.

Smooth is fast is how clarity and intention can propel you. I recall a software engineer I worked with who was perceived as "slow." People wanted him to move at the speed of a short-haul puddle jumper when he worked more like a B-52 Stratofortress with an unrefueled combat range in excess of 8,800 miles. He prepped, asked great questions, and challenged the architecture of things to ensure it was scalable. Once he took off the runway, he went the distance and the code was immaculate.

"That which has been done well has been done quickly enough." —Agustus Caeser

Drawing of a turtle on a rocket ship with the phrase "Festina Lente" on the side of it

Speed is a differentiator

The speed of performance, response, and how you close the gap leaves long-lasting impressions on people. It’s a feature, value proposition, and differentiator. Have you ever ordered a pizza and it arrived earlier than you expected? It's a magical feeling. What about when it arrives 30m late? The opposite. Speed is an expectation.

When I think of speed in our craft:

Fixing a bug and shipping the solution
Responding to an email swiftly
Sending the check to a founder immediately after you commit, but after you do your diligence
Being able to build something fast because you’ve designed and coded something similar repeatedly
Prototyping a proof of concept to learn fast

Speed is the rate at which someone or something is able to move or operate. The speed of closing the gap differentiates you from your competitors.

Going fast requires durability

Anything that moves fast requires durability. Rockets and plans are not made out of temporary materials and need to survive velocity. This is true about how you approach your work. No rational person starts marathon training by running the entire 26.2 miles. They train in increments until they can endure the journey. Have this mindset when you learn new skills.

Embrace smooth speed

For many designers, it can feel uncomfortable to move fast. Perhaps it's an understandable trigger warning for us who've worked at companies that shipped things carelessly without focusing on the quality or feeling compelled to move fast and break things. It doesn't have to be this way. Speed can be smooth—rapid, iterative, yet thoughtful. Speed is the pace at which you make progress in achieving something, and going smoothly fast gets you there first. Be intentional and get moving.

Festina Lente. Slow. Smooth. Fast.