--- title: How We Learned to Get More Done with Less description: A small team shipping more than larger ones — the tools, rituals, and trade-offs we made to stay fast without burning out. image: https://blog.toodledo.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/lesstalk-2.jpg --- [![toodledo_logo (1)](https://blog.toodledo.com/hs-fs/hubfs/toodledo_logo%20(1).jpg?width=1000&height=162&name=toodledo_logo%20(1).jpg "toodledo_logo (1)")](https://www.toodledo.com) Open main menu Close main menu - [Home](https://www.toodledo.com/) - [Products](https://www.toodledo.com/) - [Pricing](https://www.toodledo.com/pricing.php) - [Blog](https://blog.toodledo.com/) - [Company](https://www.toodledo.com/info/contact.php) [How We Built This](https://blog.toodledo.com/tag/how-we-built-this) # How we learned to get more done with less [Toodledo](https://blog.toodledo.com/author/toodledo) [Share this blog post on Twitter](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=I+found+this+interesting+blog+post&url=https://blog.toodledo.com/how-we-learned-to-get-more-done-with-less) [Share this blog post on Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://blog.toodledo.com/how-we-learned-to-get-more-done-with-less) [Share this blog post on LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://blog.toodledo.com/how-we-learned-to-get-more-done-with-less) ![Team productivity discussion - how we learned to get more done with less](https://blog.toodledo.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/lesstalk-2.jpg) Discovering startup productivity hacks helped us accomplish twice as much. When I joined LinkedIn, I called up one of my interviewers. He had left LinkedIn just as I joined so that he could start a startup.   I had asked him for some advice on how to make the most of my time at LinkedIn.   After all, he had a few big operational wins under his belt. Notably , he single-handedly built the the operating forecasts for the company. He then recruited and trained a team to use those forecasts to influence product strategy .   He shared two ideas that have shaped my thinking since.   ## 1. Always work backwards Have you ever had a boss hand you a project and you don’t know where to start?   Happened to me a lot at the beginning of my career.   But I knew I learned best from examples. By looking at a good memo looked like or a great strategy deck, I could deconstruct what worked. Then, I could create the solution I needed from those building blocks.   If you take a step back, this is simply knowing where you want to end up at.   If you know the final destination or where you want to go, you can work backwards and figure out which building blocks you need .   And, on the flip side of the coin, you know which building blocks you don’t need. This leads to point #2.   ## 2. Figure out which big rocks will make the difference Once you know what building blocks you need (versus which ones are nice to haves or aren’t needed), you simplify your life .   You can start to say “no” a lot more. Not to say that saying “no” is easy, because it’s not. That’s it’s own entire blog post.   But with a clear roadmap of where you want to go, you can quickly check to see if something is helpful or a distraction.   ## Why Startup Productivity Matters to Our Team Because focus is the great multiplier. Focus of your time and energy.   On teams, focus also allows me as a leader to share the direction we’re headed in. This generates better outcomes due to coordinated effort than a scattershot approach.   And then when we celebrate a win, everyone shares in that outcome because we’ve all been focused on the same end destination . **Related reading:** [How to Build a Weekly Review Habit That Actually S](https://blog.toodledo.com/weekly-review-habit/) and [January 2019 Monthly Update](https://blog.toodledo.com/january-2019-monthly-update/). Want to learn more about startup productivity? Check out [this First Round Review guide on productivity habits](https://review.firstround.com/the-most-dangerous-leadership-traps-and-the-15-minute-daily-practice-that-will-save-you). ### Leave a Comment ## Related Articles [![Getting Things Done GTD methodology - hand writing the words Getting Things Done](https://blog.toodledo.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Screen-Shot-2019-01-06-at-10_23_55-AM-2.png)](https://blog.toodledo.com/gtd-the-man-who-has-saved-100-million-hours) [Guides](https://blog.toodledo.com/tag/guides) ### [GTD | The man who has saved 100 million hours…](https://blog.toodledo.com/gtd-the-man-who-has-saved-100-million-hours) GTD getting things done methodology pairs perfectly with the right task manager. [Toodledo](https://blog.toodledo.com/author/toodledo) [Read More](https://blog.toodledo.com/gtd-the-man-who-has-saved-100-million-hours) [![Startup team member portrait - recruiting at a two-person startup](https://blog.toodledo.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/aaronblog-2.jpg)](https://blog.toodledo.com/they-said-itd-be-harder-to-recruit-at-a-two-person-startup-they-were-wrong) [How We Built This](https://blog.toodledo.com/tag/how-we-built-this) ### [They said it’d be harder to recruit at a two-person startup. They were wrong](https://blog.toodledo.com/they-said-itd-be-harder-to-recruit-at-a-two-person-startup-they-were-wrong) Startup recruiting small team talent turned out to be easier than we expected. [Toodledo](https://blog.toodledo.com/author/toodledo) [Read More](https://blog.toodledo.com/they-said-itd-be-harder-to-recruit-at-a-two-person-startup-they-were-wrong) ### Let's stay in touch! [Follow us on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/Toodledo/) [Follow us on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/toodledo) [Follow us on Twitter](https://twitter.com/toodledo) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Toodledo", "url" : "https://blog.toodledo.com/author/toodledo" }, "dateModified" : "2026-08-18T18:10:11.359Z", "datePublished" : "2018-11-20T02:14:35.000Z", "headline" : "How We Learned to Get More Done with Less", "image" : [ "https://blog.toodledo.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/lesstalk-2.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://blog.toodledo.com/how-we-learned-to-get-more-done-with-less", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://blog.toodledo.com/hubfs/toodledo-logo-2026.svg" }, "name" : "Toodledo" } } ```