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I said, “Quality is overrated.” Richard’s jaw dropped. This was heresy to a man of German heritage like Richard. I took time to explain. If we wait for perfection to get something out the door, we can wait a long time. A working prototype comes before the good enough product. Focus on getting to “It works … enough” before striving for perfection.
Ernest Hemingway said “The first draft of anything is sh!t.” The first draft of anything is a draft completed. It is a completed piece of work in rough form. Once we have a completed first draft, we can decide whether to ship it as is or refine it. One we have it, we can ask others for opinions … we can see how the markets we are willing to expose it to react. Sometimes launching sh!tty is good enough.
Launching a new toothpaste? You’ll start of with a test group. Then a test market. Then you’ll expand from there. You will adapt formulas, packaging, marketing based on what the tests tells you. But first you need toothpaste. Not almost toothpaste. Not an idea of toothpaste. Toothpaste. They say you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. But you have to put something in the tube to begin with.
I have friends who are amazing at executing. Our friend, Amy sent out baby shower invitations the other day. They’re adorable. Jen, my wife, showed it to me online. I made few comments about wording to make things more clear. Jen informed me the invitations are already in the mail. It would have been easy to get lost in the wording or the design of the invites. But the value added would have been minimal. It’s done. One less thing on the list.
Perfect is a myth. Believing in it might make you feel better. But it doesn’t get any product out the door.
Sometimes it’s so easy to get caught in trying to some right. When the right thing to do is get it done.
Lower the bar. Get something done.
I could proof this again. But it’s good enough… (Publish, Done).
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