Slow Is Smooth. Smooth Is Fast.
Before my second deployment to Iraq, I kept thinking about one thing: how to stay connected to the people back home.
We had access to MWR (Morale, Welfare, Recreation) facilities, but it wasn’t great. You’d wait in line just to get 10 minutes of internet—and half of that time was spent waiting for the login page to load. It was frustrating. That’s where the idea of “tactical programming” really started for me.
So I decided to do something about it.
I bought a satellite system and had it shipped out once we were settled at our base. Getting it wasn’t simple—we had to hop on a Blackhawk and fly an hour to another base just to pick up a five-foot satellite dish. But once it was set up, it worked.
And I mean really worked.
It was the most reliable internet I’ve ever had. For $3,000 a month, it better have been. The only time it ever went down was when the commander ordered a full communications blackout. Otherwise, it held strong—and that reliability didn’t happen by accident.
The Way I Approach Projects
That experience shaped how I approach projects to this day—including building websites.
During that same deployment, I was part of a QRF (Quick Reaction Force) team. It’s pretty much what you see glamorized on TV—working with people you’ve never met, often from different branches, and somehow everything has to work together seamlessly.
But it didn’t start that way.
Training was slow. Painfully slow.
We took baby steps—literally.
- Take a step. Pause.
- Look left. Pause.
- Look right. Pause.
- Charge your weapon. Pause.
- Step again. Turn. Pause.
We did this over and over. For days.
It could take us four hours just to clear a one-bedroom mock house.
But something clicked over time.
By the end of training, we could clear that same house in under 20 seconds.
What That Taught Me
Even now, long after leaving the military, that lesson sticks with me:
Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.
We didn’t rush. We didn’t panic. We didn’t cut corners. And because of that, when it mattered, everything just worked.
That mindset carries directly into how I build things today.
No, I don’t show up to my desk in a helmet yelling,
“Code that feature or give me twenty!”
But I do slow down.
Applying This to Building Websites
It might feel unnatural to step away from your computer and start planning on paper—especially for a big project like a multi-thousand-page site.
But it’s one of the best things you can do.
Walk through everything:
- Every possible scenario
- Every user flow
- Every edge case
Put yourself in the user’s shoes. Map it out. Talk it through with your team if you have one.
You won’t always have unlimited time to do this—but even a little planning goes a long way.
Because here’s the tradeoff:
Would you rather
- Spend more time planning and building…
- Or spend way more time fixing things later?
What Happens When You Rush
We saw the opposite play out in training, too.
Every time a “new guy” came in trying to be Rambo—rushing, yelling, skipping steps—it fell apart.
Instead of clearing a house in 20 seconds, we’d:
- Get in each other’s way
- Miss things
- Create confusion
- Take five minutes to clean up the mess
No exaggeration.
The Takeaway
Even if you’re working solo, this still applies.
When you slow down and think things through:
- You understand what you’re building
- You know why you built it
- And you can improve it next time
And honestly? That’s a great feeling.