A surgical instrument comprising: an end effector, the end effector comprising; a firing member translatable proximally and distally along a longitudinal axis between a stroke begin position to a stroke end position distal of the stroke begin position; a knife coupled to the firing member; and a motor coupled to the firing member to translate the firing member between the stroke begin position and the stroke end position; means for generating firing member motion data that describes a motion of the firing member; and a control circuit comprising at least one processor and a memory device in communication with the at least one processor, wherein the memory device comprises instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to: begin a firing member stroke by providing an initial motor setting to the motor; maintain the initial motor setting for an open-loop portion of the firing member stroke; receive firing member motion data describing a motion of the firing member during the open-loop portion of the firing member stroke; select a firing control program based at least in part on the received firing member motion data describing the motion of the firing member during the open-loop portion of the firing member stroke; and after the open-loop portion of the firing member stroke, drive the firing member according to the firing control program for the remainder of the firing member stroke, wherein the open-loop portion of the firing member stroke is from a beginning of the firing member stroke to an end of an initial time period. an end effector, the end effector comprising; a firing member translatable proximally and distally along a longitudinal axis between a stroke begin position to a stroke end position distal of the stroke begin position; a knife coupled to the firing member; and a firing member translatable proximally and distally along a longitudinal axis between a stroke begin position to a stroke end position distal of the stroke begin position; a knife coupled to the firing member; and a motor coupled to the firing member to translate the firing member between the stroke begin position and the stroke end position; means for generating firing member motion data that describes a motion of the firing member; and a control circuit comprising at least one processor and a memory device in communication with the at least one processor, wherein the memory device comprises instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to: begin a firing member stroke by providing an initial motor setting to the motor; maintain the initial motor setting for an open-loop portion of the firing member stroke; receive firing member motion data describing a motion of the firing member during the open-loop portion of the firing member stroke; select a firing control program based at least in part on the received firing member motion data describing the motion of the firing member during the open-loop portion of the firing member stroke; and after the open-loop portion of the firing member stroke, drive the firing member according to the firing control program for the remainder of the firing member stroke, wherein the open-loop portion of the firing member stroke is from a beginning of the firing member stroke to an end of an initial time period. begin a firing member stroke by providing an initial motor setting to the motor; maintain the initial motor setting for an open-loop portion of the firing member stroke; receive firing member motion data describing a motion of the firing member during the open-loop portion of the firing member stroke; select a firing control program based at least in part on the received firing member motion data describing the motion of the firing member during the open-loop portion of the firing member stroke; and after the open-loop portion of the firing member stroke, drive the firing member according to the firing control program for the remainder of the firing member stroke, wherein the open-loop portion of the firing member stroke is from a beginning of the firing member stroke to an end of an initial time period.