Mjz explained the importance of timing and proper lane pushing in Dota 2

Everything you do in the game is tied to the timer, at least in the first 20 minutes. You’ll see how pros play and move around the map based precisely on this. Laning usually ends around the 5-minute mark because night falls. That’s typically when you can secure a kill. And from the 5th to the 6th minute, you’re already playing for the objective—the rune at the 6-minute mark. Everything is tied to the clock: Lotus Pools spawn at the 3- and 6-minute marks, active runes at the 6-minute mark, and catapults at the 5- and 10-minute marks.

You need to push the lane forward quickly and then immediately pull back. Doing this gives you a ton of options: you can go to mid, to the Twin Portals, or to top. But most importantly, when you push first and then reposition, your movements across the map feel incredibly fast. If you don’t push that wave of creeps and just farm the jungle—that’s fine—but when you push the lane first, your movements become more efficient. You create a situation where any fight for your opponent will start with them outnumbered: even if the enemy uses Teleport, they’ll already be too late.

I really love it when players do this, but I hardly ever see it in my public games, which is pretty sad. Look at how Slardar or Puck push the lane: they don’t even stay for the last creep. An average player would think: “Oh, this guy isn’t farming—that’s stupid.” But actually, it’s really smart. It shows that he quickly cleared the wave and immediately runs off. He doesn’t stick around for that last creep; instead, he runs to the portal or to the center because he’s creating opportunities to attack. If you don’t get greedy, you give the other team as little information as possible—the less information you give, the better your attack will work.