Thrust, Drag and the 10x Effect

Not sure if anything changed my approach to work and engineering in the past five years more than this passage from @Lethain, written in the context of staff engineering but much more broadly applicable.

If you want to change how a system works, and move the system into a new steady state that’s closer to your goal, sequential effort won’t do much. What you need is parallel effort: you need several different things to happen, all at the same time, for the system to actually move in the direction that you want and stay there.

For high-priority tasks , like designing the main user interface content or creating content for a major product launch, you might spend 10–20 hours a week. These tasks need detailed planning and close collaboration with your team.

Medium-priority tasks , such as updating help center articles or creating content for minor feature updates, might take... See more