Great is the enemy of good (sometimes)

I’m the first person to advocate romanticising perfection. Largely due to the Covid-19 restrictions, I’ve recently picked up on my serious cooking again. One of my newest evergreen recipes is a mouth-watering bouillabaisse. It all starts with an early morning visit to the nearby fish market, where I buy various kinds of fish; I’ve recently tried a combination of mackerel cut into pieces, kingfisher bones and dried shrimps as a base for the broth. In addition, I added carrots, tomatos and a lot of fresh herbs. The result is something that I pride myself with, assuming that there are probably no (upscale) restaurants in Pune who would be able to serve a soup of this quality. I’m also setting the bar quite high in my professional life; I’m an overachiever, always wanting to go the extra mile. However, a couple of years ago I actually came to realise a new perspective: sometimes good is just good enough.

Being a perfectionist could be seen as a positive, but can often be annoying

Imagine being interviewed for a senior position in the diamond cutting and polishing industry. They will probably not only be asking you some tough questions about your honesty, but also question your experience. To get the job, it will be very helpful if you’re telling the HR-person that you’re a perfectionist. In the end, you will be handling very precious materials and a cut in the wrong direction could create a loss of thousands of Euro’s. Are you working in the corporate world? You would be blessed if you have some perfectionists in your department. These people can really make all the difference. However, I’ve also had some equally frustrating experiences with perfectionists; how much extra time do you want to spend to move from good to great? Too many perfectionists in a department or company can be very annoying at times. Furthermore: there is a real risk of not finishing the work at all, because the quality will be criticised at all lengths.

Sometimes, good is just good enough

While some projects require an aim to be great, for lots of other projects being good is good enough. Some people look at this from a military perspective: choosing their battles. I love some of the military anthology, but for this example I’ve got a better rule: input vs impact. If the number of hours and/or money spent on a project increases, without creating more impact it doesn’t really make sense. Whilst the definition of good or great is arbitrary, most people will understand the difference, especially with all the potential of extra hours of work at the back of one’s mind.

Aiming for perfection can kill a good project

During my time in India, I’ve experienced many projects where extra efforts have not only put my stress levels in a free fall but actually made things worse. One of the most vivid memories is a case where I wanted to distribute t-shirts amongst all the people in our department. The thing that triggered the distribution of the t-shirts was the merger of two IT-departments within the company (KPN). We wanted to launch this new department – with new principles, a great vision and awesome leadership – by giving away t-shirts amongst other things.  At one of the locations, the aim of my colleagues was to go for great; they wanted to track all the t-shirts and let people sign off after they’d picked up their t-shirt, including capturing their name and employee number. The result was something I’d already anticipated: extra long lines of people. During the retrospective I asked my peers if this was – in hindsight – a good decision. They actually acknowledged my perspective. Their fear that some people would deliberately stand in line twice to pick up an extra t-shirt indeed could have happened, but the numbers still wouldn’t have been that far of. Thus, the extra efforts to create a perfect t-shirt distribution would not have paid off. In fact, the long line of people was the big trade off, while the possible gains were low (a couple of extra t-shirts distributed, with a value of 300 INR a t-shirt).

Agile and the art of slicing (and being imperfect)

Asking people to do things well but not great is hard, especially if you’re demanding them to go the extra mile on other projects. Why is project A less important than project B? As I said earlier: it’s all about choosing your battles. Furthermore: it’s also about being imperfect at the beginning of the project and moving some of the perfection to the execution or final part of the project. Unless the strategy and key objectives are strong and good, it’s a matter of starting fast, failing fast and experimenting a lot to gain more knowledge in order to finish the project perfectly.

Conclusion: wondering if the extra efforts will pay off

I would be the last person in the world to advocate imperfection. Nobody wants to spend 250 euros for an average pair of Italian leather shoes. However, whenever the individual receives the product or service will never have experienced any improved quality or other benefits from extra efforts to make something better, why put in all the extra hours or money? So, every time you’re working on something and there is an option to spend more money or time on the project, you should ask yourself this question; are the extra efforts are worth it? Even if it’s a small improvement, do it. If not, finish the project and spend the saved efforts in something else.