Startups thrive on speed and hustle. But when everything feels urgent, how can you tell what actually matters?
In many founder-led companies, management ends up being more reactive than intentional. There’s little in the way of a product roadmap, structured hiring plan, or resource allocation. The focus shifts to whatever’s on fire today.
Hands-on leadership keeps momentum high − but often at the cost of clarity. Teams start juggling ad-hoc requests, switching tasks mid-sprint as priorities shift faster than plans can keep up.
That’s not always a red flag of course. In early stages, it often means growth is outpacing systems − and that’s fine. The danger comes when it never changes. If firefighting becomes the default mode, those systems may never arrive.
Staying reactive
When urgency drives every decision, we see cracks appear − in predictability, morale, and scalability.
- Low predictability: the business and its people can’t plan ahead. Normal work, but also self-development, there’s simple no time for that.
- Burnout and disengagement: especially in deep-focus or cross-functional roles, like software developers, interrupted by shifting priorities. Improvement initiatives from within are unlikely to appear (also “no time for that”).
- Scaling issues: hiring gets harder without a clear plan or stable environment for new people to grow into.
- Reactive culture: teams respond instead of taking ownership. Long-term thinking gets devalued, and structure-minded people hear: “That’s too far out − we’ve got urgent thing right now”.
Together, these patterns make it hard to plan, deliver, or grow without constant context-switching.
Again, reactivity isn’t all bad. Early on, it’s a strength − enabling quick experiments and fast proof-of-concepts. The problem is when “temporary chaos” becomes the operating model.
What to do when everything feels urgent
1. Don’t fight everything
Not every battle is worth picking. If you’re new or still building trust, observe first.
Understand how decisions are really made, and what informal systems exist.
2. Create structure where you can
You don’t need to fix the company. Start small: a team-level board, a weekly priorities doc, a summary email. Local structure is better than none, and it often reduces chaos and time waste within days or weeks.
Your approach might inspire other teams to try it too, improving the way of working across the bigger organization.
3. Talk in business outcomes
When priorities shift, don’t push back − clarify the trade-offs:
“Would you like us to pause X, even though it was expected this week?”
This isn’t about defending your plan, it’s about making trade-offs visible so others can make informed calls. And if something always gets dropped, maybe it wasn’t that important 🤷♂️
When to reconsider staying
If leadership shows no interest in systems or processes, it probably won’t change. You can create small pockets of calm, but long-term, it’s hard to grow where unpredictability is the norm.
Over time, it’s not the speed that burns people out, it’s the lack of consistency. Scaling requires systems, in addition to good effort. If you can’t shape the system, ask yourself: Can I grow here?
And if not, can I at least thrive here for now?
If both answers are no, it might be time to consider what’s next.
How to spot it early
If you’ve experienced a reactive culture before, the good news is you can usually spot the signs early − even during interviews.
Typical red flags:
- Vague or hand-wavy answers about planning or delivery cadence
- A version of “We move fast”, with no mention of how alignment is maintained
- No clear process for choosing or tracking priorities
- Leaders who “do a bit of everything” but rarely talk about delegation or ownership
Questions to ask:
- “How do priorities get set week to week? (or sprint to sprint)”
- “How far ahead do you plan engineering work?”
- “What’s on the roadmap for next quarter?”
You’re not after polished answers − just intent. Is there any thought about structure? Or is everything driven by urgency?
Working fast is great. Reacting quickly is a strength. But running on urgency alone isn’t a strategy, rather a sign the system still runs on people, not process. That’s not always a negative, but the risk compounds over time. If you’re joining a team like that, do it knowingly − and help them move from firefighting to focus. Thanks for reading!
