The 'Fast vs. Slow Thinking' Org Structure
by Howie Liu • Co-founder & CEO at Airtable
Howie Liu is the co-founder and CEO of Airtable, a low-code platform for building collaborative apps. Previously, he founded Etacts (acquired by Salesforce) and is known for his deep focus on product design and flexible software architecture.
🎙️ Episode Context
Howie Liu discusses the necessity of 'refounding' a decade-old SaaS company in the AI era, emphasizing the shift of CEOs back to 'Individual Contributor' (IC) roles. He details Airtable's organizational split into 'Fast Thinking' (AI innovation) and 'Slow Thinking' (infrastructure) groups, and explains why product leaders must prioritize 'vibes' and hands-on usage over rigid evaluations in the early stages of AI development.
Problem It Solves
Balancing the need for rapid AI experimentation with the requirement for enterprise-grade stability and reliability.
Framework Overview
Inspired by Daniel Kahneman's concept, Airtable split its Engineering/Product/Design (EPD) organization into two distinct groups. The 'Fast Thinking' group operates like a startup to ship AI features weekly, while the 'Slow Thinking' group focuses on deliberate, long-term infrastructure and scalability.
🧠 Framework Structure
Fast Group (AI Platform): Operates wi...
Slow Group (Core/Infra): Focuses on d...
Complementary Growth: Fast thinking a...
When to Use
When a mature company needs to innovate aggressively with AI without destabilizing its core revenue-generating product.
Common Mistakes
Trying to apply 'slow' rigorous planning processes to AI features, or applying 'fast' hacky execution to critical infrastructure.
Real World Example
Airtable's 'Fast' team built the 'Cobuilder' (app generation via chat) rapidly, while the 'Slow' team worked on 'HyperDB' to support massive datasets.
We have the fast thinking group... we want to just ship a bunch of new capabilities on a near weekly basis. And each of them should be truly awesome value.
— Howie Liu