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How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Doing Less

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How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Doing Less
FOSDEM 2021

It is impossible to bring every idea, every innovation, and every improvement you can think of to fruition. Doing a little less allows you to honor the finite amount of time each person can give to your cause or project or workplace. But how do you start cutting those todo's down to a manageable level?

Groups of passionate people are fantastic at generating more ideas and tasks then they can possibly collectively execute on and open source communities are no exception. It is impossible to bring every idea, every innovation, and every improvement you can think of to fruition. It may sound counter-intuitive, but skipping things, scaling down and doing less can help you be more effective. A project that consistently over-commits itself will eventually alienate people, so it makes sense to cut those todo's down to a manageable level, but how do you start? This talk will cover:

  • How to figure out what to trim and what not to trim
  • When to pull back and how to do it gracefully
  • How to preemptively choose to do less

Doing a little less allows you to honor the finite amount of time each person can give to your cause or project or workplace. Tasks that are done with ample time can be done with more care and are less prone to error. People who aren't constantly feeling like they're up against impossible deadlines will be happier, well-rested people that are more likely to stay involved for longer. Let's do less!

Speakers: Deb Nicholson