Festina lente

Meaningful problem-solving discussions benefit from writing things up. Consider a sketch or a video to explain things in more detail. There’s an expression in Latin - festina lente. It means “make haste slowly”. I know we optimise for speed in software development. Deep work is often the casualty in this quest for speed. Slowing things down through writing has several benefits.

• The act of writing helps get other people on the same page quickly. If you’re looking for help, it helps you set context and explain where you’re stuck.

• The artefact you produce can also speed up problem-solving. Instead of spending a long time understanding the problem, someone who’s trying to help can get straight to their inputs.

• The chain of written communication can become a decision record for others to refer to at a later point in time.

• Often, writing and sketching things out can clarify your own thinking and help you get to a solution without help!

Cliff Berg, author of Agile 2, summarises this brilliantly.

“Unless you want people to stay at a surface level in their thinking, mostly able to execute simple tasks but largely unable to go deep and conquer hard problems, then it is essential to set things up so that they can focus without distraction.”

As I’ve mentioned earlier, writing is your super-power to go deep and conquer those hard problems.