November 10, 2026

Work Slower

Let’s do a thought experiment...

Alice runs a firm.

She has ten employees.

She bills them out to clients by the hour.

Alice’s firm has a bad year.

Her employees are only billing out 15 hours per week.

She’s having a hard time making payroll.

Nothing she tries is bringing in more work.

So, she calls a company meeting.

And she tells her ten employees:

“Work slower.”

BOOM!

Everyone immediately goes up to 30 billable hours per week.

Cash flow is back to normal.

Problem solved!

Here’s the thing...

Most hourly billers I’ve talked to over the years would consider Alice’s “work slower” strategy unethical.

I would agree with that assessment.

Buuuut... consider the implication:

The implication is that if Alice’s people aren’t working as fast as possible, they are doing something unethical.

Which means that Alice has an ethical responsibility to invest in training and systems and tooling and automation that will make her team as fast as is possible with current technology.

AND YET!

She has no financial incentive to do so.

IN FACT!

She has a powerful financial incentive NOT to do so.

Those things would all cost her money AND decrease her revenue.

Is not investing in making her team faster any more or less ethical than explicitly instructing her people to work slower?

The outcome for the client is essentially the same either way.

Yours,

—J

BackRandom