The Action-Planning Paradox: Balancing Execution and Strategy in Tech

How I learned to harness my "bias toward action" while avoiding its pitfalls

TL;DR: This post examines the balance between execution bias and planning in tech environments. I offer a decision framework based on project stage, team composition, and risk factors, with actionable strategies backed by real-world examples from Facebook/Meta and my personal experience leading teams.

In the early days of my tech career, I received a piece of feedback that would follow me for years: "You're highly execution-oriented and don't plan much." This observation from my manager wasn't presented as entirely negative or positive—just a fact about my working style that I needed to be aware of. Over the years, this same feedback resurfaced from various managers and peers, sometimes framed as a strength, other times as a weakness.

This tension between action and planning reflects a fundamental dynamic in professional environments. Some call it a "bias towards action"—the tendency to prioritize doing over deliberating. It's a quality that's simultaneously celebrated and criticized in…