Time Is Precious

Protect your time at all costs

Protect your time at all costs. Time is the most critical resource we all have, and it’s finite. In the fast-paced environment of startups, it's not funding or people but time that demands our utmost attention. Yet, ironically, we find ourselves trapped in the very activities that squander it—meetings.

Useless meetings waste so much time. People love meetings, but deep down, they also hate meetings. Yet they show they are valuable by doing more meetings. Five-minute meetings, quick huddles, Syncs, Standups, you name it. Meetings.

Meetings, while often born from the best intentions, quickly become the most expensive time-sink, draining our most talented individuals of their energy and creativity. This issue becomes magnified as big corporate practices infiltrate the startup culture, demanding formalization and institutionalization at the cost of agility and innovation.

Treating time carelessly will eventually catch up. It leads to burnout as minor issues compound over time, leading to massive problems. It's like a leaky pipe dripping slowly under the sink. Eventually, it corrodes the floor, and you have a big problem.

It’s not that all meetings are bad. Ensuring teams are aligned is essential, but there is an opportunity cost to meetings. Time could be spent on product development or customer research. Time is not just money. Time is precious.

But it's not just about being busy; it's about being productive. The culture of busyness, where meetings dominate, and random huddles are prevalent, obscures the true measure of effectiveness. It leads to decision fatigue, hampers problem-solving abilities, and, most critically, eats into the finite runway of time that startups operate on. What you do is who you are.

I’m a big fan of asynchronous communication. Tools like Slack or project management tools can be helpful, albeit if people know how to use them effectively.

Building a culture that values trust, autonomy, and results can lead to few meetings. Empowering individuals and teams to make decisions without requiring consensus from large groups can accelerate action and reduce the need for synchronous communication.

Leaders have a significant role to play in time management. Leaders who respect their own time and their employees' time set a precedent that helps build a culture that values productivity over busyness.

Protect our most valuable asset and pave the way for a more innovative, efficient, and prosperous environment.