Thinking small
I own a small tech company. Perhaps it will grow bigger one day. When that happens, I hope I can still remember how to think small.
That sounds counterproductive. We’re always encouraged to think big—for a good reason, too. The stakes are huge, whether it’s a small company or a humongous enterprise. Someone’s life is always involved in business—you must never undervalue that.
Thinking small doesn’t mean aiming for less or helping only a few. Aspirations are subjective. Some big companies want to take over the world. Mine is to simply solve problems with tech.
The problems we solve may not be as big as finding the cure for a terrible disease. But problems, no matter how small they are, are always connected to a bigger one. Solve a little problem at a time: tidy up a few lines of code, tell a user a nifty trick. No need to belittle your daily contributions. In a small-thinking world, every act of consideration counts.
Thinking small is a virtue. It promotes prudence. Nothing should go to waste if you have few resources. Take stock of what you have, like free tools and people with bright ideas. Use them to achieve big out of little effort. Take good care of them and they will likely stick around.
Our brain isn’t that big—approximately the size of ten tennis balls. Juggling ten tennis balls is not a good choice. You’re bound to drop a couple of them (unless you’re Alex Baron).
Think small. One ball at a time, if we must. Don’t approve a PR when you’re sitting in a meeting. Don’t sell a second service if you haven’t even mastered the first one. Think small—iteratively and synchronously. One small idea empirically evolving is the core of every invention. And we are here to keep inventing.
Big is not evil. Small isn’t that bad either. In tech, both moves the needle.
Big tech vs. Tiny tech—they are both full of stories we all want to learn from. This newsletter may be about small tech teams, but it doesn’t mean it’s not important.
Hi Readers,
Please inspire me to write more by engaging. We all need that tiny spark of encouragement.
M.S
Nothing is small when the problem it solves is big.