For me, a speed run is simple:
Try to do something fast. Really (really) fast. Within a tight time box.
It’s not about rushing. It’s not about chaos. It’s about focus. It’s about cutting through all the fluff that gets between you and a solution. It’s about liberating yourself from the delusion that you need more time to do good work.
I’ve been doing speed runs for years—sometimes without even realizing it. But lately, I’ve found myself doing them multiple times a day. Maybe it’s the pace of the project I’m on. Or maybe it’s just that speed runs are one of the most effective problem-solving tools I’ve got.
Term
I used to just call it “timeboxing.” That was the word. But a colleague referred to it as a “speed run.” And I haven’t stopped thinking about that phrasing since.
It’s perfect.
It captures the spirit of it: like gamers who race through a game, not for perfection, but for pace. For insight. For the run.
Not every move is polished. But you’re learning. You’re adapting. You’re flying. And with each run, your moves get sharper. Faster. More precise. What feels chaotic at first becomes instinct with practice.
Run
There’s nothing that pushes me harder to solve a problem than a countdown clock ticking down. It cuts straight through the fog of indecision.
Pick a path and go. Pick and go. Pick and go.
If you’ve ever done an escape room, you know exactly the energy a speed run has.
Yeah, technically, you could look at every single object in the room. Pick up an old phone book. Look underneath that dusty faux-leather chair. Check if there’s any significance to the dates on that old 2022 Minions calendar pinned strangely to the wall.
But you can’t do everything. Time is running out. So you try stuff. Do stuff! Say “What if we just press this?”
Because the longer you wait to try something, the longer you stay stuck pretending the problem is more complicated than it is.
So... You make a guess. You make a move. And (fingers crossed) hope that it works.
That’s the energy.
Creative chaos
My speed runs are messy. Sometimes a little chaotic. But never careless.
If you’ve ever been on a Zoom call with me during one, you’ve probably heard a lot of:
“It’s fine!”
“Come on, load!”
“Yes—great—GO GO GO.”
That’s not panic. That’s focus. That’s flow... with some fangs. Pure, full-body, problem-solving mode. Everything that doesn’t matter right now? Gets dropped.
TypeScript? Doesn’t matter.
Pixel-perfect visuals? Doesn’t matter.
60fps? DOES. NOT. MATTER.
Not because those things aren’t important. But because I already know how to do them. What I don’t know—yet—is how to solve this specific problem.
And that’s what the speed run is for.
Insights
Here’s the real magic of speed runs:
You don’t just solve problems. You reveal them.
Whether or not you reach a solution, you always learn something. Usually something you didn’t expect.
And what you find? Isn’t just answers. You find waste. You find dead weight. You find the ideas that seemed smart but die on contact with speed. That’s not failure. That’s information.
Spent two weeks debating a perfect component API? Turns out, in practice, you didn’t even need it. Makes you wonder why it took two weeks.
Keep getting lost flipping between 50 browser tabs? Maybe you should close a few.
Find yourself screenshotting designs and taking notes by hand instead of using a laggy Figma file? Maybe that’s the workflow.
Speed runs stress-test your tools, your process, your priorities. They reveal friction. They reveal habits. They show you what actually works—when you don’t have time to pretend.
And once you’re done? Once you’ve found a direction?
Take the time. Build it right. Make sure the solution can stand up straight and strong. Polish it. Speed runs show the way. Thoughtful execution takes it home.
Go!
So the next time you’re staring down a gnarly problem, don’t plan it to death. Don’t overthink the architecture. Don’t open 30 tabs.
Just set a 15-minute timer. Do it fast. Run! Pick and go. Pick and go
And if it doesn’t work? You’ll still come out knowing a whole lot more than when you started.
P.S. This post? A speed run. I’ve been spending a bit too long on blog drafts in the mornings—so I gave myself a timer and ran with it. No better way to write about speed running than to do one.