I write a financial newsletter, as you may have heard, and I publish it every day. If I wanted to, I could make it perfect—I could wordsmith the shit out of it, I could make it literary as hell, and I could spend 3 hours copy editing it, or paying someone to do the same. I could send out the perfect newsletter every day. And you know what? I would probably not make any more money off of it.
80% good enough rule is likely the perfection rule in all. The sequence of discovery goes like Big Bang, Application, and Perfect-Fit. The Big Bang masterplan must be far distance from the Perfect-Fit. It has to be that way. Let the mass specialists come in to make the Perfect-Fit work ( the last 20% in the 80% good enough). That is the way to work better and smarter, not harder.
In the late 1980s the Secretary of Transportation, Elizabeth Dole, demanded zero defects in transportation. An FAA inspector came out to the flight school where I worked and grounded all the training aircraft because a piece of cosmetic plastic was missing from each. It was flimsy, non functional, with no impact on airworthiness, and the part was no longer in production. Stupid is as stupid does.
I'm not sure where you came up with the 80%, probably from the 80-20 rule, which, roughly stated, says that we want to be focused on the 20% of effort that gets us 80% of total results. In any case, as you noted, with time and practice, 20% of the effort may get as high as 98% of the results. As a TDD subscriber, I will agree that typos do slip in, but they almost never impede understanding, and as long as the meaning is clear, I do not more than notice them and move on. When our objectives are met, move on.
I love this so much! I struggle a lot with perfectionism in my work and you are right, it does lead to much lower pay!
Where do you teach finance? I thought you taught writing in college?
Molly Tuttle 🎶 https://youtu.be/OezjWN44Ejc?si=AMrZpZAzVlmKENt4
80% good enough rule is likely the perfection rule in all. The sequence of discovery goes like Big Bang, Application, and Perfect-Fit. The Big Bang masterplan must be far distance from the Perfect-Fit. It has to be that way. Let the mass specialists come in to make the Perfect-Fit work ( the last 20% in the 80% good enough). That is the way to work better and smarter, not harder.
In the late 1980s the Secretary of Transportation, Elizabeth Dole, demanded zero defects in transportation. An FAA inspector came out to the flight school where I worked and grounded all the training aircraft because a piece of cosmetic plastic was missing from each. It was flimsy, non functional, with no impact on airworthiness, and the part was no longer in production. Stupid is as stupid does.
Enjoyed this one v much
I'm not sure where you came up with the 80%, probably from the 80-20 rule, which, roughly stated, says that we want to be focused on the 20% of effort that gets us 80% of total results. In any case, as you noted, with time and practice, 20% of the effort may get as high as 98% of the results. As a TDD subscriber, I will agree that typos do slip in, but they almost never impede understanding, and as long as the meaning is clear, I do not more than notice them and move on. When our objectives are met, move on.
Great essay!
Hear,hear :)