Efficient over Fast

I recently listened to a podcast with Prof. Antoni Krzeski, a laryngological surgeon and former hospital head. He shared an interesting idea: he has banned the use of the words “fast” and “easy” when talking about surgeries. Instead, he encourages doctors to use the word “efficiently”. While it means something similar, it avoids making surgeries sound simpler than they really are. Over his career, he has performed tens of thousands of surgeries, so his opinion is worth considering.

This idea also applies to IT. In our field, being efficient is important for a company’s success. The more often IT companies can iterate, the better results they usually achieve. We could say “the faster companies iterate, the better results they usually achieve”, but I like the idea of avoiding words like “fast”, “quick” and “easy”.

The words we use matter. When senior people tell junior team members something should be “fast” or “easy” it can add extra pressure and make them think, “Am I not good enough if I can’t do this quickly?”

I prefer the word “efficient”. It feels more connected to quality and helps focus on doing things thoughtfully instead of rushing.

And by the way, thank you, Michał and Tomek, for pushing me to start writing again.

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