Intro
Shipping fast isn’t about shortcuts.
It’s about removing the things that slow teams down later: constant re-decisions, rewrites under pressure, coordination overhead, and fear of touching the system.
This section is about how real SaaS teams maintain momentum after the first few features ship — without rebuilding everything once the product becomes real.
These articles focus on speed as a systems outcome, not a productivity trick.
Shipping Fast
These categories are about reducing thinking, avoiding traps, and compounding speed when you’re building alone (or with 1–2 people).
1. Decision Drag
Shipping slows when you keep reopening decisions you already made.
Indies don’t stall in meetings — they stall in their own heads.
Articles
- Stop Re-Deciding the Same Things Every Week
- Decision Debt Is Why Your Side Project Never Ships
- “I’ll Decide Later” Is How Momentum Dies
- Constraints Are What Let You Move Fast Alone
- Optionality Feels Safe — Until It Freezes You
- Strong Defaults Are a Solo Founder’s Superpower
- Why Opinionated Stacks Ship Faster
- Flexibility vs. Indecision (They Are Not the Same)
- Consistency Is How Solo Projects Scale
- When Choice Becomes the Bottleneck
Frame:
This is about mental load, not architecture theory.
Every unresolved choice steals cycles from shipping.
2. Avoiding Rewrites
Nothing kills an indie product faster than rebuilding under stress.
You don’t have a team to absorb that cost — you pay it directly.
Articles
- Rewrites Are a Tax You Can’t Afford
- Why Most “MVPs” Are Just Bad First Versions
- The Lie of the Disposable Backend
- Code That Ships Fast and Doesn’t Collapse Later
- Early Structure Determines Whether You Ever Reach V2
- The V2 Wall Indie Founders Don’t See Coming
- What Actually Forces a Rewrite (Hint: Not Features)
- Refactors Are Cheaper When You Planned for Them
- MVPs That Don’t Haunt You Six Months Later
- Shipping Once Beats Shipping Twice
Frame:
This isn’t anti-speed.
It’s anti-panic rebuilds.
3. Solo Velocity
You slow down when your system fights you.
Coordination isn’t the enemy — friction is.
Articles
- Why Solo Projects Slow Down Over Time
- Clear Ownership Still Matters When You’re Alone
- Boundaries Reduce Context Switching
- Velocity Dies in Tangled Systems
- “I’ll Just Hack It” Is a Long-Term Speed Killer
- Fast Systems Compose — They Don’t Entangle
- Poor Boundaries Create Mental Bottlenecks
- Architecture Beats Motivation Every Time
- How Indie Projects Quietly Lose Momentum
- Scaling Yourself Without Burning Out
Frame:
This is about self-coordination — not people management.
Your system either supports your focus or drains it.
4. Understanding Before Speed
You can’t move fast in a codebase you don’t trust.
Fear is the real drag coefficient.
Articles
- The Slowest Codebase Is the One You’re Afraid to Touch
- Debugging Time Is the Hidden Velocity Killer
- Fear, Not Features, Slows Indie Products
- Readable Systems Let You Move Faster Tomorrow
- Why You Avoid Changing “Working” Code
- Clarity Is Not Overengineering
- Invisible Behavior Is a Tax on Every Change
- Systems That Explain Themselves Ship Faster
- Confidence Is a Performance Optimization
- Velocity Comes From Understanding
Frame:
This is psychological safety, but for code.
If you hesitate before every change, speed is already gone.
5. Built-In Leverage
Shipping fast means not rebuilding the same hard parts every time.
Indies don’t need more hustle — they need leverage.
Articles
Removing Months of Setup Without Cutting Corners
Rebuilding Auth Is the Slowest Way to Ship
Every SaaS Has the Same Painful Parts
Plumbing Is Where Indie Time Disappears
Infrastructure That Feels Like Cheating (Because It Is)
Build Features, Not Foundations
Reuse Is the Only Real Speed Multiplier
Why Infrastructure Takes Longer Than You Think
Shared Primitives Reduce Cognitive Load
Speed Comes From Leverage, Not Effort