Sunday, May 11, 2025
How do you know when your work is good enough? And at what point do more iterations (more editing, more input, more meetings), no longer improve the end result, but merely make it “different”? These are two of the most important questions at the intersection of innovation and efficiency.
When is something “good enough”?
It can take one hour to get something to a 90% quality. It would take another 10 hours to get it to 99% quality. And it would take even more to get it to 110% – the point where you’ve exceeded requirements, but reached your personal best.
But what are the client (and internal) expectations: are they 90%, 99% or 110%? If they expect 90%, and you deliver 110%, they might not appreciate the difference. And they certainly wouldn’t appreciate the difference in cost.
And conversely, if they are expecting 110% and you deliver anything less, they’ll be disappointed.
So when we strive for the highest quality for our clients, how do we know when we’re “done”? Consider this criteria: when we exceed their expectations, and also feel we have done great work.
When do more iterations no longer improve the end result, but merely make it “different”?
You create something of high quality for a client, and you review it, you get feedback on it, you present draft version to the committee. This gets repeated, over and over again. There is no end to the changes you can make, nor limit on how much detail can be scrutinized. You can find yourself editing it circles.
So when should these iterations end? There are two approaches: time-boxing, and de minimus changes.
- Time-boxing: Iterations continue until a pre-defined point in time. The benefit is that there is pressure to “finish” the iterations before the deadline: no analysis paralysis.
- De minimus: Iterations continue until the “net change” in any version is no longer material. The benefit is a lower project risk is reduced as more and more input is provided: no artificial deadlines.
This week’s action plan:
Both questions are important, and speak to something more fundamental: your answers drive your culture. This week, put these two questions to your management team: is everyone on the same page?
Leadership Insight:
Early in my career, I was in mergers and acquisitions; typically meeting clients and putting together financial models. One day, I was called into the partner’s office, and told that my work was excellent quality, but the client wouldn’t care, and neither did he. His instructions: do work that is “just good enough”. Looking back, I’m not sure the client didn’t care, but I certainly did. I enjoyed the challenge of doing great work with demanding deadlines. Be very careful about building an organization where “just good enough” becomes the mantra, it has a habit of being a self-fulfilling prophecy.
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