GMF#12 | Doing More (Good) with Less
TL;DR: In our recent meeting with Give.Asia board members, we confronted both external and internal challenges. It's becoming harder to inspire people to give, and our team's productivity has been slower than expected. But as we reflect on our journey, we've rediscovered our startup spirit. We're creators and builders, driven by the joy of crafting things that make a real impact. We're shifting our focus from bureaucracy to action, determined to build tech for good and prove that time, however busy, can always be worth it.
The current climate makes it challenging to inspire donations, and our team has faced productivity hurdles.
Rather than pointing fingers, we recognize that everyone is working tirelessly, and it's about finding our collective rhythm.
Bill Gates' insight about choosing "lazy" people for hard jobs reminds us to value efficiency over sheer effort.
We're revisiting our scrappy startup days, where efficiency and functionality trumped perfection.
As a team of creators and doers, we're shifting focus from endless meetings to impactful action, committed to building tech for good.
Once a quarter, we sit down with the Give.Asia board members to talk about our ups and downs, seeking their wisdom on our journey ahead.
The past few months have been a bit of a rollercoaster ride. We've noticed that in these challenging times, it's not as easy to convince people to open their hearts and wallets. Even those who do give seem to be tightening their purse strings.
But it's not just the external challenges we face. Internally, it feels like we're all sprinting in different directions. Our output has been slower than we'd hoped, and it's not for lack of trying. We're all putting in the hours, but we're somehow not hitting our stride.
We all sense it, but it's like an unspoken shadow hanging over us. No one wants to point fingers because we're all in this together, and we're all working tirelessly. It's not a matter of effort; it's more about finding our rhythm.
The tension didn't escape the notice of our board advisors. They called it out, and it was a wakeup call. We couldn't afford to let this linger.
It reminded me of a quote from Bill Gates: "I choose a lazy person to do a hard job because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it."
It's a concept that took me a while to grasp fully. In "The Goal" by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, they explain that in a factory, when someone appears to be "lazing" around, it's often because they've finished their tasks ahead of schedule. They're waiting for others to catch up. Ironically, we often end up penalizing our most efficient team members.
What's even more intriguing is that if someone's overworked, the usual response is to throw more resources their way. But maybe, just maybe, they're overwhelmed because they aren't the best at resource management. Less could be more in their case.
Going back to our roots when we were a scrappy startup with more dreams than dollars, we were lean and efficient. We didn't waste time or resources. We didn't obsess over perfection, only over functionality. Our mantra was simple: "Does it work?"
We need to bring that spirit back into our culture. We are a startup, a collective of creators and doers. Our joy comes from crafting things that genuinely help people, from making a difference. We're not suited for corporate bureaucracy or endless meetings. Let's shift our focus from endless "committee discussions" and "approval processes" to simply getting things done.
The reality is, we'll always be busy; that's just how it goes. But it's the value we create during that time that matters most. Here at Give.Asia, we're on a mission to build tech for good, to prove that we can make every moment count.