December 6, 2025
Speed demons vs burnout brigade
Why Speed Matters
Speed vs Burnout: Are We Surfing or Sinking
TLDR: Daniel Lemire says moving quickly beats slow perfection because mistakes teach faster and work goes stale. Commenters split: speed as survival in fast-changing software vs warnings about burnout and vague advice, with calls to define “fast” and find a middle ground.
Daniel Lemire just slammed the brakes on slow work with a fiery essay urging everyone to move as fast as you can (link). He says slow isn’t noble—it’s a liability. Learn quicker by making mistakes, don’t cling to outdated work, and stop over-polishing the parts no one wants. He even drops the spicy heart‑surgeon analogy: you want the doctor who’s done many surgeries, not the one endlessly “prepping.”
Cue the comment section: instant soap opera. The speed demons cheered, saying tech is a rising tide where “table stakes” keep growing—“it’s like surfing a never‑ending wave,” one wrote. Startup folks chimed in: rush is bad, but dragging things out kills quality too. Then the burnout brigade pushed back. “Move fast” becomes corporate hustle culture, they warned—deadlines, stress, and no time to think. Another commenter hit the brakes hard: first, define what ‘fast’ even means, and in which context. The biggest meme moment? A zinger about picking between a surgeon who trained for years versus a “YouTube‑and‑a-book” speedster—a perfect jab at “move fast and break things.” The vibe: dramatic tug‑of‑war over speed, sanity, and whether we’re shipping value or just fast‑food code.
Key Points
- •The author argues professionals underestimate the need to move fast and that slowness is a negative.
- •Moving fast aligns execution with the speed of thought but does not mean projects are completed quickly.
- •He claims faster progress often produces better outcomes, exemplified by shorter PhD timelines.
- •Three reasons to move fast: avoid overinvesting in irrelevant components, learn quicker via mistakes, and prevent obsolescence.
- •An analogy to open-heart surgery suggests frequent practice and speed correlate with higher quality; conclusion urges readers to increase their pace.