The Most Valuable Lesson I Learned Driving a Nuclear Submarine.
Slow is fast.
I used to be a Nuclear Submarine Officer. I spent just over eight years on active duty boiling water and poking holes in the ocean. While I have forgotten a lot more about nuclear power than I have retained, I did walk away with countless leadership lessons that have helped me grow a tech company. There is one that stands above the rest.
My first Captain was one of the best leaders I have ever been blessed to work under. Many of those leadership lessons come from him, including this one. Captain Rauch would frequently walk into control (or maneuvering) in the middle of a casualty drill and say “Slow is fast.”
He usually said this as I was rushing through some casualty procedure trying to restore propulsion and get us to the surface. I would be barking orders like a madman, trying to keep my place in multiple procedures, and counting the seconds we had been without some critical system and he would calmly remind me “Lieutenant, slow is fast.” Well, yeah except if I take all day, we all die! (i.e. fail the drill)
His words have stuck with me. His point was simple. It’s better to be slow and methodical as you work through the casualty response and ensure you conduct the recovery procedure correctly, then rush and make a mistake. Mistakes make the casualty worse and require more procedures and repeated steps. In the end, it’s faster to go slow.
I Googled “Slow is fast.” Captain Rauch can’t take credit for the quote. It’s been in use in various branches of the military for a long time and no doubt derives from the Tortoise and the Hair. So, I guess Aesop gets credit for it. (He wrote his fable around 600 BCE.)
Slow is fast.
Captain Rauch used a lot of great quotes, but “slow is fast” might be the most useful. I find myself reminding myself and others of it all of the time.
Operating a nuclear submarine at sea is not all that different than running a technology company.
The software equivalent to flooding on a submarine is “everything is broken and our clients can’t (fill in the blank with the critical task your software helps clients complete)!” In those moments, time speeds up and your stress levels go through the roof. There are a million things that need to be done, and deciding the sequence of actions is critical. Oh, and you need to be back up in under ten minutes. Just typing that gives me flashbacks. Flashbacks of being underway and underwater, as well as, flashbacks of standing in the office with an important client on the phone demanding answers. You would be amazed at how similar the two situations are. Slow is fast is equally valuable in both.
I saw a lot of fellow officers make critical mistakes because they failed to understand the wisdom of Slow is Fast. One failed to fully clear his baffles while trying to get to periscope depth during his qualification watch. He did not qualify. In fact, he never learned the lesson and he never qualified. I have seen talented developers panic and rush to a hoped-for fix only to make the situation worse and extend the casualty. Both were operating with fear instead of confidence. The fear came from a self-inflicted extreme urgency to get out of their current situation. They should have slowed down their thinking. They should have confidently moved through the required actions as quickly as possible, but not any faster. Slow is fast.
The speed of life pushes you towards avoidable errors.
Here are some everyday examples:
- Considering a job change? Slow is fast.
Take your time to put in the work and due diligence. Have you talked to everyone you know who is knowledgeable about this company? What other opportunities did you explore? How many people have you found on LinkedIn who seem to be doing what you want to be doing? How many of them have you spoken with.
Better to make job changes slowly. It’s a whole lot faster than hopping into a bad fit.
- Angry with your partner? Slow is fast.
It’s time to take a breath and slow things down. Words said too quickly cannot be taken back. Decisions made while angry are often poor, and usually damaging.
You’ll get to resolution faster by going slowly.
- Making a big purchase? Slow is fast.
Fast buying is emotional buying. Unless you purchase high-dollar items for a living, you will generally be better served by slowing things down. Take it from me, I panic bought a house and lived next to the world’s worst neighbors for two years as a result.
Don’t believe the salesperson. You have time. There will be other houses and other cars. Fast purchasing leads to timeshare purchases and horrible neighbors, both of which take a long time to get rid of.
There is always a cost to fast decisions.
Do you pride yourself on making decisions quickly? I do. It’s helped me survive my time as a submarine officer and find success in the tech industry. I absolutely acknowledge the need to think fast and make the best decision available as quickly as possible. It’s my default operating mode.
This is exactly why I need to remember “Slow is fast.”
“Slow is fast” helps me quickly evaluate those costs and decide whether the decision I am faced with is a slow or fast decision. Take the ten seconds it takes to work through these four questions the next time you have a meaningful decision.
1. Does this decision have to be made now?
Viewing your situation through a “slow is fast” lens forces you to acknowledge that you are making a fast decision and incurring the costs associated. You need to make sure you have a better reason than just crossing it off your to-do list. If speed has no measurable advantage and possible costs, sleep on it. If the answer is yes, move to question 2.
2. How hard will it be to adjust course if it doesn’t work or I change my mind?
You’ll probably have a pretty good idea of how difficult undoing the decision will be. It’s hard to undo quitting your job. It’s not that hard to rework the pricing matrix. If you find a fast “wrong” decision can be quickly corrected or iterated, go for it. If it will take a while to undo, move on to question 3.
3. Will moving slowly improve my odds of making the right decision?
Usually, this is an easy yes, but not always. Sometimes you know everything you need to know and the environmental constraints are set. Delaying the decision to think more and see if anything changes is just an excuse to avoid making a decision. If you already understand all elements of the situation and they are unlikely to change, pull the trigger. If not, move on to question 4.
4. Can I afford to wait?
This is the most difficult and most important question. You have already determined there is an advantage to a quick decision, undoing the decision will be costly, and taking more time will likely lead to a better decision. This is where you have to put on your “be a leader” pants, do some quick mental math, and decide if the advantage of fast action in the right direction, outweighs the risk of fast action in the wrong direction. In the examples I cited above, the answer is obviously “no,” but oftentimes in business the answer is “I think so.”
Slow is fast is not a silver bullet. It does not eliminate the need or the pressure of fast decision-making.
Self-inflicted wounds and unforced errors are frustrating and often painful. We should try to avoid them whenever possible. Slow is fast keeps you from making avoidable mistakes.
Slow is fast.
