Never underestimate the compounding value of those small incremental steps.
Today I was reminded of how important it is to take small incremental steps and how these all add up.
If you had asked me 6 months ago to run nearly 200km in any time frame, I'm not sure that I would have been up for the challenge and would have probably told you that it was impossible for me to do that type of distance. However, I was shocked when I checked my stats today to find that I had done exactly that. I wasn't motivated by the guilt of missing a session but by the positive impact I could see this was having. The positive reinforcement came in the form of achievement, mental clarity, and a general increase in overall well-being and my increased focus on it.
The compounding effect of increments is seen in multiple domains. Pensions and investments take years to build up but their cumulative value rises exponentially as you continue to make your small monthly contributions over the years. Over time, companies and people compound small learnings (sometimes not knowingly) leading to growth over time, this provides competitive advantages.
The same compounding effect is true of building products and delivering projects. Give yourself lots of small wins. It's rewarding and motivational to continuously achieve and avoids long periods of no tangible outcomes. It is also important to understand that a small change is normally easier to design, fund, and if all goes wrong, to fix! I do appreciate that some things have to be larger than we expect or take longer, but this is generally with good reason and relative to the situation. Small chunks are easier to manage.
Sometimes we are pushed to show value by showing significant change on a big scale, this can result in long drawn-out projects that look to provide an overwhelming number of new features and benefits. However, the reality is that large-scale projects that look to deliver huge change find that they may have now missed the end user's requirements by becoming outdated. This risks either completing the project to get it finished or binning the project at a big financial loss.
Keep agile, build small and release frequently and watch the compounding effect on the value and benefits. You are advised to do the same with things in your personal life so why not at work? Can't do it all in one day!
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