The Fastest Way to Do Anything is to Not Do It At All!
I stumbled upon a deep quote from
@CaryMillsap , a big name in the performance world, that got my neurons firing. It is; "The fastest way to do anything is to not do it at all!"
Initially, it may appear counterintuitive or even a sign of laziness. But this statement really does encapsulate a powerful mental model. It's a powerful way of reminding us to prioritize ruthlessly, fold back our sense of entitlement, and question the true value of every task we do. It's an encouragement to embrace the profound efficiency of strategic elimination.
How Does This Principle Work in Practice?
In Performance Engineering & Database Administration:
Rather than starting right in on a lengthy tuning exercise for a complex query or a process that's resource-intensive, the very first question should be this: "Is this query or process really needed? Can the business requirement be met in some other, simpler way, or has this need somehow arisen in the past, when it wasn't really necessary, and can we now let it go?" Sometimes, if you have to have a big load on the system, it's better for that big load to come from a couple of resource-hogging, straightforward processes than from lots of little, efficient ones.
In Management Consulting, this principle means paying attention to the activities that yield the most value to our clients and not getting sidetracked by requests that aren't in the scope of what we should be doing. Our goal in this area isn't to appear busy, but to look effective.
A Growth Mindset: This helps to better manage our time, energy, and resources in our everyday lives. It aids in letting go of things we might otherwise think are essential but aren't. This lets us focus on the things that truly are essential.
This method pushes us to go beyond merely doing what has "always been done" or what seems "routine" and to actively look for opportunities to simplify and intelligently eliminate what doesn't need to be there.
What Are Your Thoughts?
Have you ever attained unexpected outcomes in your work or undertakings by applying this principle? I would be very interested in your experiences and insights on this.
#PerformanceTuning #Efficiency #Productivity #StrategicThinking #DatabaseAdministration #ManagementConsulting #Effectiveness #OracleDBA #PerformanceEngineering #StrategicElimination