Leverage Is Thoughtful Work with Outsized Impact

There's a kind of work that quietly multiplies. It's not louder or more visible, but it shapes outcomes across time and across teams. That kind of work is leverage: the art of getting the most value from the least input.

Leverage isn't about shortcuts. It's about thoughtfulness. It's the discipline of asking not just what needs to be done, but what will matter the most, last the longest, and have the widest impact. That shift—from effort to impact—is what separates busyness from effectiveness.

I don't always get this right. I still catch myself solving the immediate thing instead of stepping back to ask whether I'm working on the most leveraged problem. But I'm learning to pay more attention. I'm learning to ask better questions before I dive in.

Leverage Grows with Responsibility

As responsibility grows, the stakes of leverage grow with it. Early in your career, good leverage might look like automating a task or learning a shortcut. Later, it looks like shifting priorities, writing a document, or building a tool that unblocks dozens of people. One well-placed decision can ripple outward for months. One piece of clarity can replace hundreds of repeated conversations.

This is the kind of thinking I try to practice—and remind myself of—especially when I feel stretched thin. It's easy to confuse urgency with importance. But the best outcomes usually come from small, intentional moves made at the right level. The Practice of Iteration holds a lot of this same energy.

Artifacts that Multiply

Our engineering leveling guide is one of the highest-leverage things we've built. It took time. But now it anchors our conversations about growth, feedback, and expectations. It saves us from reexplaining the same ideas. It helps team leads guide growth. And it frees us up to troubleshoot edge cases and interpret nuance instead of redefining the basics. That's what leverage does—it moves the conversation forward.

Developer tooling is another clear example. Making local environments smoother or deploys faster might seem like minor wins. But when they save every engineer ten minutes a day, they add up quickly. And when they reduce frustration, they create space for better focus, fewer mistakes, and a stronger team experience. Quiet impact, multiplied daily.

A Discipline of Focus

This is the kind of work I want to do more of. Leverage isn't always glamorous, and it's rarely urgent. But it's what builds lasting systems, healthier teams, and better outcomes. It takes discipline to find and protect it. It takes even more to say no to the good work in order to say yes to the highest-leverage work.

I'm writing this mostly to remind myself. Because I need the reminder often. The goal isn't to do more. The goal is to do what matters most—and let that work carry its own weight.

(Written during a week where I needed this reminder just as much as anyone else.)