A joy of where we live in Palm Springs is being neighbors to nature—animals from baby lizards chilling on the roof, to rabbits, and the occasional mountain lion. Of many types of birds who our house, my favorite winged visitor is the hummingbird—nature’s VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing). As I sip on my Kloo cold brew in the backyard, I sit in awe watching the bird float in one place and changing flight directions quickly.
I realized the hummingbird is the Barry Sanders of the animal kingdom. The Detroit Lions hall-of-fame running back was known to strike fear in his opponents because of his similar ability and his ability to change direction. He could make cuts on the field that left opponents chasing him completely missing, humiliating hall-of-fame defenders.
This got me thinking about the notion of speed. Let's build on additional important factors that complement speed that are important: velocity and displacement.
Speed
Speed is the rate at which an object covers distance, measured as a scalar quantity without direction.
Attributes of speed:
Acceleration rate
Top-end speed (maximum speed)
Deceleration
First step
Velocity
Velocity is the rate of change of an object’s position in a specific direction, measured as a vector quantity. For velocity, agility is the most important aspect; changing direction, reacting, and moving efficiently while maintaining control.
The key attributes of agility:
Reaction time
Spatial awareness
Acceleration and deceleration control
Footwork precision
Let's use our cheetah as an example. Agility might be a factor if there are obstacles between our cat and the destination; a rock, river, etc. The cheetah might have to change its direction and adjust speed to get to the destination.
Displacement
Displacement is the total distance traveled relative to the end destination. For example, if a Cheetah traveled 300m in a zig-zag to get to its prey 100m away, resulting in a 33.3% displacement efficiency rate.
Attributes of addressing displacement:
Directional awareness and path planning
Precision in movement
Anticipation
Balance and stability
Efficiency in energy use
Like the cheetah chasing its prey, destination points in delivering software is often not a straight line. Blockers and variability come up all the time, even with things often considered “easy.”
Displacement variance in the target
Here’s what makes work hard. Everything discussed assumes the cheetah is moving towards its prey if the animal is staying still. What happens when the animal is moving and constantly changing direction like Barry Sanders? This is what working in tech and new frontiers like AI feels like. The displacement variance is what exhausts us.
Anticipating and executing your play
In American football, the linebackers are the players who are between the defense line and the secondary. They are the position players who have to make adjustments to the situation based on what they see. As a result, linebackers are often the defensive captains because of this role. Let’s use how linebackers evaluate and attack based on chasing a ball carrier with displacement variance.
1) Read the situation
First, the defense evaluates what the offense is trying to do. Factors might be:
Score: Is the opponent ahead or behind? How might they select plays based on this?
Time remaining: How much time is left? Does the opponent want to slow down the clock to maintain the lead or several scores behind?
Field position: Where in the field is the opponent? Are they 80 yards away and need to make progress significantly or are they close to the gal and optimizing for short distances?
Known behaviors: What does the head coach typically do in these situations? Are there variables in the players on the field that give clues in what they’ll do?
From that, the defense will make any adjustments needed in the formation.
2) Set point of attack
Upon evaluation, the defense sets the plan of attack based on what they anticipate will happen. For example, if a defense thinks the offense will throw the ball deeper, the defensive players responsible for pass attacks may back up more to give padding. They may optimize to play heavier on a side with more players, often in anticipation of that’s where the play will go (strong side vs. weak side).
3) Aggression level
The blitz is the most notorious aggression level in a defensive attack, where the defensive player anticipates the offense snapping the ball. The blitz is a high-conviction move. One of the most iconic blitzes was in 1998, when Penn State linebacker Lavar Arrington jumped the line against Illinois to stuff the run—forever known as the LaVar Leap. This was a high-conviction move by Arrington. Since he read the play right, it’s remembered to this day as one of the greatest plays of all time. However, if he read it wrong, he likely would draw a penalty resulting in a failed decision.
Scheming in the workplace of software-making
Let’s get out of the gridiron of football and use an example more universally relatable to the readers: working at a company that ships software.
Anticipate possible outcomes
When you are a team lead, your responsibility is to be ready to act based on possible outcomes. Leaders do not sit and wait, they anticipate and have to orchestrate people to where they need to be as decisions land. You must have the conviction that what you expect is correct, even if you could be wrong.
Read the displacement variance
The famous Wayne Gretzky quote, "I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been" only applies if all variables are consistent. What happens if the puck. You can’t do that to Barry Sanders, who can change direction and variable speed.
Decide on your speed of attack
This is where you make the call. Do you blitz or play it more conservatively? This is what makes or breaks leaders—decision-making. There's a reason this is on any performance indicator or profile.
Situational examples
Situation 1: Platform migration
Let’s say your company is migrating from Angular to React (trigger warning for all the hyper-growth startups in the 2010s). There is a finite amount of time in which it needs to get done. It’s debatable how fast you need to move on this to ensure it gets done. If there the displacement variance is low, but I also am not going to sprint full-speed when I need to pace the marathon.
Situation 2: Pending stakeholder decision
If there is a time between key stakeholders making a decision that has implications for the business, then I am going all-out blitz to attack that. There is a finite amount of time to land the optimal solution and speed to distance is important. You may not have time to zig-zag to the destination like the cheetah and might have to run through obstacles to get it done.
Situation 3: New frontiers
The state of AI is high displacement variability. Things change daily based on breakthroughs. As someone who has been working in AI for years, I plan for a lot of displacement variance.
Recap
Working on software teams is dynamic. The end destination always changes. Embrace the messiness of work instead of stressing about it. To recap a few insights:
Rapid change management is good in displacement situations. A cat chasing a laser pointer doesn’t deplete as much effort due to the short distance of movement
Conviction in your decisions is key to getting fluid iteration cycles
If the end destination is static or highly predictable, there is a cap on where speed and acceleration can benefit
Adjust your speed based on the point of attack
My relaxed face and worried face look the same. That’s because, in environments with lots of displacement variance, I dial my mind and body to not worry and anticipate. I wish you the best in chasing down your variable targets and goals.
Hyperlinks + notes
A collection of references for this post, updates, and weekly reads.
Common misconceptions about the complexity in robotics vs AI
Design and (Blank): Link to my talk from Hatch Conference. Interested in giving a talk? The call for submissions is open
Career opportunities
Atlassian roles
Great read specially for working in tech in 2025 !
Hummingbirds are so rad and I love that they were part of this insight. ✨🤘