1- Learn to be Patient

This article is a part of the 12 lessons from the kitchen table series.

Patience is a virtue, says everyone, but most times, we do not ask why. 

Why should I be patient when I can get it done faster? 

As a rookie learning how to cook a veggie patty with roasted veggies, I questioned why I should wait for 10 mins on the medium flame when I can cook it in 4 mins on a high flame? And yes, I did just that. The results were catastrophic, a charred patty uncooked inside and burned veggies. 

A couple of weeks later, watching Salt Fat Acid Heat on Netflix, I realized how applying heat as a catalyst to the process was a flawed interpretation. Heat is merely a tool for cooking, and as a good cook, you need to know how to use it. Low to Medium heat cooks the patty from inside, and high heat makes it crunchy and charred from outside. The idea is to apply heat to facilitate both processes, so the final product comes out delicious.

Thinking back to my day job, I have seen multiple examples of similar impatience.

• Skipping the requirement and design phase to deliver the product faster 
• Adding more resources to a struggling project to fix the issues and wrap it up
• Making fast decisions in a vacuum to speed up the development process
• Top-down mandates on timelines matching some high level goal

The above examples almost always lead to missed timelines, inadequate deliverables, and demotivated teams. You have to let the process take its time; else, you will end up with a burned patty or, worst, none at all. In my future articles, I will share what strategies helped me avoid the above traps.

Being patient with the process will allow you to monitor the product's progress through its lifecycle, it will give you time to react to unwanted changes, it will enable you to correct your mistakes as you go. 

Being patient will help you deliver better products and add a lot more value to your clients.