inefficiency is sometimes the point

I've written on the ethos of slow travel before, and as I return to normal life after 3 weeks in South America, I'm drawn to write about a reflection I had while hiking the Martial Glacier near Ushuaia at the far southern reach of Argentina: inefficiency is sometimes the point. Put another way, a deliberately cultivated inefficiency can be a feature, rather than the bug we often assume it to be.

In modern life, and especially in any part of modern life that has to do with technology, we learn that efficiency is good. More efficient = better. Nothing irks most engineers I know more than a task done in an inefficient manner, but it's not just an engineering concern. We look to Google Maps to tell us the fastest route, not the most interesting or scenic route, not the route that suits our current mood or energy levels. We fill commutes and chores and time spent cooking with background podcasts, assuming the time will otherwise be wasted. We run our YouTube videos at 1.5x speed, or even faster if listening comprehension permits.

It occurs to me, though, that there are many tasks and systems in which inefficiency is beneficial.

Proof of work. Systems like Bitcoin and bcrypt rely on computations that are expensive to run but easy to validate. For instance, bcrypt is often used to hash passwords in web applications for storage in database. The fact that the hashing function is deliberately inefficient makes rainbow table attacks and other brute-force approaches infeasible.

Doing things that don't scale. Often startups, products, organisations, and initiatives rely on inglorious manual work to get off the ground. High-touch early sales. Manually configuring users (we did this on my current product team until we had time to automate it). Showing up to local events (this helped grow jugger clubs in both San Francisco and Copenhagen). First understand the process, then get it working, and only then start to make it more efficient.

Strength training. What could be less efficient than moving large weights up and down, back and forth, for no purpose other than to get swole? More seriously: faster movements are not always better, partially because slower movements increase time under tension and encourage both musculoskeletal and neurological adaptation to exercise.

Storytelling. It's true that a good story gets to the point while avoiding awkward narrative flourishes best suited to Bulwer-Lytton submissions. Still, there's probably at least one book, film, song, podcast, or other creative outlet you admire precisely for its ability to delight in wandering. Maybe it's the Tom Bombadil diversion from The Lord of The Rings, or The Big Lebowski's staunch refusal to offer a traditional linear plot, or the pregnant pauses in Satie's Gymnopédies, or the deep wells of knowledge in xkcd or 99% Invisible, or that one weird side quest in your favourite open-world RPG. Here, a cultivated inefficiency becomes a source of wonder, joy, curiosity.

Slack. Here I'm talking about slack as a property of schedules and plans, not about the messaging app. No one works at 100% efficiency, and no plan is 100% accurate. Unexpected last-minute tasks will come up. Individuals and teams working at or near capacity will struggle to respond, while those with slack can remain nimble while also preserving their mental and physical health. Some reasoned, planned inefficiency is better than none.

Hobbies. My wife and I went deep on gardening in our front yard in Toronto - and not just during COVID! Like many hobbies, gardening takes fairly large inputs of time, money, and effort before you get anything out of it. You will fail, and learn, and fail again. We once lost 9 of 12 tomato plants to a snap frost in late May. We've also dabbled in woodworking, homebrewing, and electronics. For most people, efficiency is not the point of a hobby. It's certainly easier (and, at first, cheaper) to buy herbs and vegetables at the supermarket, or pick up a case of beer, or order a picnic table delivered to your doorstep, or have a handyman install an off-the-shelf smart thermostat. There's something in the inefficient struggle that brings learning, growth, and eventually the satisfaction of increasing mastery.

And these are just a few examples. There's plenty out there on the value of boredom, even at work - our minds need to wander sometimes, and often our most creative ideas come in those moments when we're not trying to be efficient, when our thoughts are pulled in tantalising directions rather than being pushed to complete task after task.

When we plan, design, and build exclusively for efficiency, we miss out on a lot of valuable emotions and experiences, and we also miss opportunities to turn inefficiency into an advantage.