fast | catherine jue
Rarely in software does anyone ask for “fast.” We ask for features, we ask for volume discounts, we ask for the next data integration. We never think to ask for fast. But software that's fast changes behavior. Developers ship more often when code deploys in seconds (or milliseconds) instead of minutes. AI code complete means we can prototype in languages we're less familiar with. Real-time streaming makes remote work possible. Conversely, slow software limits us more than we realize. When was the last time you used airplane WiFi and actually got a lot done? Maybe you sent a few Slack messages or answered a couple emails. Google Docs worked half of the time. You probably gave up. Instagram usually works pretty well—Facebook knows how important it is to be fast.
Fast is magical. Fast eliminates cognitive friction. Raycast surfacing the right application before you finish typing feels like an extension of your mind. Superhuman's sub-100ms rule—plus their focus on keyboard shortcuts—changed the email game in a way that no one's been able to replicate, let alone beat. I recently used Mercury to pay another business that uses Mercury, and its instant settle felt surprising in a world where bank transfers usually take days. No one praises these tools explicitly for their speed. They just feel magical.
