Marginal gains: In favor of continuous improvement
We overestimate what we can achieve in a short period.
But, at the same time (no pun intended), we underestimate a long-term improvement process.
It's pure maths
First, think of any process you'd like to improve.
Say… time-to-market in a given company. Or % of churn. Or lead time for a given team. Or average speed in a 100km bicycle ride.
Imagine you want to improve any of them by 20%. 20% faster, 20% safer, 20% better, whatever. Any process, any activity, any outcome.
Nope. It ain't easy.
Compounding effects
What would it take to improve by 1% instead?
Can you think of a 1% improvement for a bicycle ride?
It sure looks more doable to me.
For instance, go for a ride today. Ride for 40km, and that would help you improve. Or read about a better training plan. Or try a new nutrition schema. Or buy a more expensive bike (ok, now I'm justifying myself. Sorry about that).
Tomorrow, improve it by another 1%. Then do it again. And again.
Imagine you kept doing that by a year.
1.01^365 = 37.78
That's right. By improving a 1% daily, that process would become 37% better/faster/stronger in a year. Thirty-seven!
That right there is a compound effect: any future change builds upon the previous ones. So do not underestimate that 1%.
However, we assumed a couple of interesting facts here.
You’re a click away from reading the rest of the post:
👉👉 https://afontcu.dev/marginal-gains 👈👈
Cheers! 😃