It’s good enough, let’s get it out there

Some people love to argue for argument’s sake.

They relish the back and forth of competing assertions. Optimizing extremely fine distinctions with hairsplitting detail brings them profound joy.

It’s talmudic in nature, as everything is examined from numerous points of view, and feuds are treated like sacraments. To them, arguing is an existential affirmation.

But all appreciation for this personality aside, the question we still have to ask is, at what point does productive discourse become unnecessary anxiety?

Because all this back and forth can reach exaggerated and ludicrous proportions. It hits the point of diminishing returns.

Particularly in the workplace. Imagine a small team trying to complete a project that has been taking too long. They should have shipped weeks ago, but a few of their designers insist on micro optimizing everything into oblivion.

You’ve probably found yourself in this frustrating scenario before. Having worked in the startup world for ten years now, this experience is quite familiar to me. And whenever this stalemate has happened, and people asks for my opinion on the final product, my answer is usually the same.

It’s good enough, let’s get it out there.

Now, that kind of mindset might give hives to certain people. Because of course we could spend two more weeks and five hundred additional dollars to improve this thing by twenty percent.

But the reality is, none of our customers are going to notice the incremental difference anyway. And the stress of not being finished yet will be taxing on our team.

Besides, if we really need to, we can always go back and improve the work down the road. Right now, our bias needs to be towards output. Closing this loop, calling it done, and releasing the energy being held hostage by this goddamn project, so we can move on to the next one.

It’s good enough, let’s get it out there.

What we’re talking about here is the manifestation of perfectionism. That’s often the biggest barrier to finishing projects.

People aren’t good with good enough. They demand unrealistically high standards of themselves and others, mostly so they can congratulate themselves on having such impeccable taste and elevated ideals.

Congratulations on your integrity, but in many cases, the best way to accomplish more, is to care less.

Or maybe to care differently.

Instead of focusing on being right, being the best and winning the argument, we can devote our energies to efficiently finishing our work within a reasonable time frame.

What does good enough mean to you?