Four years ago today (the timing of this post wasn’t intentional!), I’m sat at home doomscrolling on Twitter. The UK is in lockdown; my timeline is dominated with bad news. But then, I stumble across this post:
Convex payoffs: investing in actions that provide compounding, long-term benefits.
Now on the surface this doesn’t scream ‘good news story’, but it triggered some formative thinking for me. It’s helped me crystallise the way I think about software engineering performance, and optimising for current and future success — both for me, and the teams of engineers and engineering leaders I support.
The idea is simple. Optimise for actions that are going to help you in the long-term, knowing they’ll also support your short-term success. Those actions include some of the things mentioned in the post above, such as building your reputation, maintaining a strong network and acting with integrity. I’d also add:
- Fail fast, learn faster
- Never repeat the same mistake
- Take total responsibility; avoid the ‘somebody else’s problem’ trap
In the long-term, it’s the things in the convex payoffs bracket that help you stretch, grow, and perform better. It’s a false economy to optimise only for the things that you think really matter today — for example, your performance review rating, getting a bonus, or getting a pay rise. Sure, those things matter and might be incredibly important depending on your circumstances. But in the grand scheme of your career, they offer only marginal gains. If you’re interested in long-term growth and success, you need to have an eye on the convex payoffs.
I’m writing this short post knowing that many engineers and engineering leaders will be heading into annual performance reviews in the next few months. This might just be the thing that you needed to read regardless of if you’re frustrated with the outcome, or you’re delighted and wondering where to focus next.
As you reflect on your performance and career growth, ask yourself: are you focusing on the things that will compound over time? If not, what’s one small shift you can make today?