Moving fast, it’s more than breaking things
Tags: movefast
Published: 2021-07-13 01:40:41

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title: Moving fast, it’s more than breaking things
published: true
description: 
tags: movefast, 
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I’ve been thinking about the saying “move fast and break things” lately. First, [Armory](https://www.armory.io/)’s CEO, DROdio, did a tech talk with [Launch Darkly](https://launchdarkly.com/"), [Pulumi](https://pulumi.com/"), and [SD Times](https://sdtimes.com"): [Move Fast & DON’T Break Things: Modernize Your SDLC without Compromising Customer Trust](https://sdtimes.com/move-fast-dont-break-things-modernize-your-sdlc-without-compromising-customer-trust/). The talk really resonated with me for a number of reasons:

 * It really did a great job of spelling out the importance of getting code out - and the cost for not doing so. Equating code to inventory and having to watch to ensure that it doesn’t go stale, was a really great way to frame this. It’s always a challenge to balance the tech debt with the new things. Who wants to work on redoing something you’ve already done when you can be working on something new and exciting?

 * It highlighted why you have to move - it is not an option not to. Think of all of your inventory rotting and going bad. You can’t continue to build or rely on a base that is not strong enough to support what you are doing.

 * And most of all, it highlights the thinking and challenges that companies that are enabling businesses to move fast are looking at and addressing.

On the other hand, I’ve been listening to the [podcast](https://softwareengineeringdaily.com/2021/07/11/full-audiobook-move-fast-how-facebook-builds-software/) as well as [reading the book](https://www.amazon.com/Move-Fast-Facebook-Builds-Software-ebook/dp/B093HMJ4KB) from [Software Daily’s Jeff Meyerson](https://softwareengineeringdaily.com/tag/jeff-meyerson/) on how Facebook builds software. This had a lot of similarities and also a lot of ideas in it that illustrated how Facebook has been so successful as an engineering organization.

I was at Heroku for four years and one of the things that really inspired me more than anything, is what Heroku customers were able to do with Heroku - and how quickly. When the pandemic hit, I witnessed story after story - and even helped tell a few of them - on how companies pivoted, how people created apps/solutions to help their neighborhoods or others in need, and the list goes on.

The number of disruptive businesses that were able to join the market with great success, as they were born in the cloud, just keeps growing.

I watch all of this and part of me laments for the “mom and pop” stores and a simpler time, but the larger part of me is constantly amazed by the great minds and innovation that are touching all of us in so many industries and so many different ways.

So, why does move fast resonate with me so much? Yes, it’s all of the above, but even more than that, I have come to realize that I am happiest and at home in environments and cultures that do move fast, that aren’t afraid to try new things, but ones that are ensuring that none of it is at the expense of the customer.

I’ve always love this quote from Mark Twain:

> “I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.” 

Sometimes you do have to start with the long letter - or the mvp. But when things matter, moving fast doesn’t have to mean that the short letter can’t be written or shouldn’t be written...  all good things take the right amount of time. The world moves fast, and I have to say that I am quite happy to be moving as fast as I can to stay on the ride. 

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![Move fast](https://media.giphy.com/media/3oFzm4qdAdgWjTBidG/source.gif)
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