Colloquially, these words are used interchangeably, but they aren't. **Efficient** is doing a lot of things quickly, **effective** is about achievement and impact. An efficient developer might be writing lots of lines of code, whereas an effective developer might be asking the right questions to product so that fewer lines of code need to be written to begin with. One is not better than the other, in fact it's best if you can be both. But, because lots of productivity advice pushes towards the former, and it can create an illusion of progress, it's important to pay attention to the trap. The principle of [[The main thing is to make the main thing the main thing]] is about prioritizing well and creating effectiveness. #published 2025-01-18