Good Enough Often Is

Photo: Stephan Mosel

A few years ago, I answered a job ad for what appeared to be a perfect fit for a job. They were looking for a problem solver who loved working with not just web technology, but gadgets and hardware. The interview was held on a Saturday and was done as a group of potential candidates and included things like a group project to individually design paper airplanes and then, as a group, turn one into a "product" to pitch back to the interviewing team.

This group exercise as a test of leadership and cooperation as well as the subsequent exercises managed to fall completely in line with my skills, I felt I aced it and I was psyched. When they asked me to come in for a day to work with them and see how I would fit, it was clear that it was all but a lock that they'd be offering me something.

I spent the morning setting up a document scanning workstation and the afternoon putting together a software design document for a site/app they needed built for a client. Then, in the afternoon, they had a meeting with me to cover their "approach" and "philosophy".

Among other things that sent red flags up left and right was a giant one. The head of the company, who's entire appearance seemed groomed for an eventual cover shot on Entrepreneur magazine, uttered the following phrase as one of his *fundamental* philosophies:

Good enough never is.

For a second, I thought I misheard him, but since they'd so kindly handed me a paper copy of this manifesto (complete with the specifications that all email and documents written on the premises follow the manifesto's choice of font and layout exactly), I could see it there in black and white.

Nope. No misquote. The same words on the page.

Now, before anyone jumps down my throat, I understand entirely why he says this. It's a 4 word way of stating his goal of striving for perfection. That it's a way to make sure that everyone is working hard and is doing their best. Heck, I'm as inspired to be exceptional as anyone.

That's is why I *love* the whole "purple cow" thing from Seth Godin and think we'd all be better off if we got a little more exceptional in what we do. However, the subtitle of his The Big Moo book is "Stop Trying to Be Perfect and Start Being Remarkable" and sums up my thoughts on this whole idea.

Fundamentally, good enough usually *is* good enough. After all, "good enough" means it met a set of requirements. It accomplished the goal. And, when reaching good enough costs $10 and "perfection" another $100 or $1000, it becomes pretty hard to make a *rational* argument for why we should pursue that particular perfection.

I believe (like so many other things) that when you more carefully evaluate exactly when you pursue perfection and when you accept good enough, the resulting purple cows end up being a little more vibrant.

It's not as though this guy actually lived this phrase everywhere, even if you just looked at the business. They were housed in a semi-run down building with pretty basic cubicles. Clearly "good enough" when it came to office furniture passed the muster. When setting up the scanning station, I was told to set it up for 200 dpi greyscale and ironically was told the reason was that it was "good enough" to capture the detail they needed without wasting space. I guess employees there were just supposed to know when to ignore the founding ideas and when they mattered.

I turned down their offer for more reasons, including that they wouldn't actually talk salary numbers until I agreed to come on board and several other oddities (including the font mandate), but still shake my head at "good enough never is".

Unless you're going to demand perfection in *everything* (including details like the quality of the ingredients in your lunch and choosing the exact right knot on the tying of your shoes), you are already saying good enough often is. You're just doing it subconsciously. And, quite likely, you're demanding or striving for perfection in areas where it doesn't gain you anything while ignoring it in places where shifting your focus could bring HUGE gains.