Stop Starting, Start Finishing
Light bulb moment
The first time I heard the phrase "Stop Starting, Start Finishing," it was like a penny dropped in my brain. Sure, people in agile circles constantly talked about focusing and limiting work in progress, but this phrase really nailed it for me. Up until that point, my experience was more like everyone sprinting at 100 miles per hour, working on multiple things at once, and the result? Chaos.
In my previous life as a project manager in the waterfall world, this often culminated in a last-minute mad dash, fueled by late-night pizza, to push a monstrous release full of features that were often... well, let's say "not quite fit for purpose." Even after transitioning to agile, it felt like we were still spinning the same frantic plates. But when I heard "Stop Starting, Start Finishing" and gave it a try, everything changed. Now, I’m a firm believer, and I encourage teams to embrace this mantra. If you're still skeptical, check out Henrik Kniberg’s keynote (yes, the one from Spotify Engineering fame) where he illustrates this beautifully.
Kanban
Kanban is practically made for this mindset. One of its core principles is limiting work in progress. The simple act of visualizing work on a Kanban board reduces the temptation to secretly take on side projects. Or, at the very least, it encourages team members to be transparent and add new tasks to the board so everyone knows what they’re working on.
This isn’t a plug to convince you to adopt Kanban (although it is pretty great), but I find that whether you’re doing Scrum, Kanban, or some other hybrid, having a board is a super handy tool to keep the team focused.
Looking at cats on the internet (Bear with me)
You’re probably thinking I’ve lost it, right? Cats? On the internet? Have I gone mad? Well, not quite. Let me explain (I promise it’ll make sense).
So, cats. We all know they’re adorable. Exhibit A:
But here’s the deal—cats are some of the most frequently viewed images on the internet. Why does this matter? Because in the keynote I mentioned earlier, Henrik talks about building slack into the system. Slack gives your brain room to breathe, to be creative, and to work on things you’re passionate about. It’s the space where innovation happens. And in the tech world, innovation is the holy grail, but it’s nearly impossible to achieve if your team is always in "delivery mode."
Sometimes, it’s when your brain has that little bit of downtime that you experience a lightbulb moment and solve that tricky problem that’s been haunting you. So, when someone on your team asks, “What should I work on while I’m waiting for this query to run?”—instead of giving them another task, joke around and say, "Oh, just look at cats on the internet." It’ll save them from context-switching, give them a breather from the grind, and who knows—they might come back with a brilliant idea or a solution you didn’t see coming.
By focusing on finishing instead of endlessly starting new tasks, you not only reduce the chaos but also create space for innovation to thrive. So, next time, before diving into something new, ask yourself: Should I start this? Or should I finish what I’ve already begun?
Header Photo by Adam Winger on Unsplash