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September 26, 2005
In Praise of Slowness
If you like the idea of Optimal Friction, the book, then you'll also love "In Praise of Slowness", written by Carl Honore.
In fact, Honore references the fact that our capitalism is getting too fast for our own good. He says, "Consider the computer industry. In recent years, software manufacturers have made a habit of rushing their products out before they're fully tested. The result is an epidemic of crashes, bugs, and glitches that costs companies billions of dollars every year."
Our research data even shows, that by doubling staff on a project, the time compresses only twenty percent. But at a severe price in defects, which rise six-fold. I call it the 200/20/6x Rule; that is, you can double your effort (200%), and get only 20% faster speed, but suffer 6x the defects.
Like "Optimal Friction," the book "In Praise of Slowness" has a prescriptive cure in one word: Balance. IPOS says that people are discovering energy and efficiency where we may have least expected - in slowing down. But this is no Luddite call to throw away our Blackberries, laptops, and cellphones. It's a way of saying "Slow is the New Fast."
In Optimal Friction, I'll set out to prove that.
Posted by Mike at September 26, 2005 11:35 AM
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