When ‘Good Enough’ is Not Good Enough

by Arthur Cooper

Published on this site: August 26th, 2005 - See more articles from this month

There are times when the most important thing to do is just to get the job done.

For example, you have to finish writing a report and send it to a senior member of your company so that he can read it before he leaves on an overseas sales trip.

Or maybe you must prepare a quotation for a potential customer before a set deadline.

Perhaps your team must finish creating a new product and have it made ready for a previously publicised launch date.

It could be that you are a writer. If so you will know all about deadlines. Magazines have regular publication dates that cannot be missed under any circumstances and it is pointless to deliver an article for inclusion once that date has passed, no matter how good the article.

In all these cases there is an externally imposed deadline with which you simply must comply. You have no choice. You meet it or you miss it. If you meet it your work will have some value. If you miss it your work will be worthless. These are circumstances in which you cannot afford to disregard the time it is taking in order to seek absolute perfection in what you are doing. You just have to get as close as you can in the time available, and then deliver your work in whatever state it then is. Something - anything - is better than nothing. It is `good enough'.

Take the example of a new software product. Endless hours of testing and retesting can be spent eliminating every last little defect and bug that could conceivably come to light under the most unlikely of circumstances. But there comes a time when the product must be launched. If you wait forever the market need will have been met by some other company's product - perhaps not perfect, but `good enough'.

You need to know when not to seek endlessly for perfection.

But you also need to know when `good enough' is NOT good enough. You need to know when you should be seeking something better. `Good enough' is no way to run your life on a regular basis, and you should certainly never aim for this. You should never accept second best if best is within your grasp. If you aim for the best you will stand a chance of getting somewhere close. If you aim for second best then second best is the best you will ever achieve.

Don't be content with a quiet life at work in which everything chugs along in the same old way. Just because nobody is complaining it doesn't mean that you shouldn't be looking for improvements. Just because a procedure works it doesn't mean that it cannot be done better. Just because you are meeting your targets it doesn't mean that you couldn't do better still.

If you have worked for any length of time in commerce or industry you will know that there are plenty of people content with second best. They do a reasonable day's work, but they never excel. They never go above and beyond the basic requirements of their job. They do a steady job, but are never exceptional. They never look to improve working practices or suggest better methods. They never put in that exceptional effort to increase output.

They will never be the leaders or the innovators. They will never rise to high positions of responsibility. If you want to stand out and advance then don't be like them. Don't do work that is `good enough'. Go above and beyond.

There are, of course, those who are content with third or fourth best. They come to work, do the bare minimum required, and go home. Their idea of `good enough' is what they can get away with. They will tell you that you are a fool to work harder. They will tell you that your efforts will never be recognised. They will criticise continuously but do nothing to improve the situation. Don't listen to them. Don't succumb to their creeping influence, which can spread like a cancer throughout an organisation. Just ignore them and keep giving of your best.

So be proactive instead of reactive. If you see a job that needs doing, do it. Constantly seek out ways to do things better. Put yourself in the place of your customers. How can you improve the service you give them? How can you answer their needs quicker, cheaper, more fully?

The fact is that the winners in this world are those who are not content with the way things are. They are the ones who seek to improve. They are the ones who are not content just to cruise gently along. They are the ones who put in the effort. If you want to succeed and become a winner then you must do the same.

So be constantly on the alert for improvements. Always look for better ways to do things. Never give less than your own best effort. Above all don't ever fob others off by saying something is `good enough' when it isn't.

`Good enough' just isn't good enough.

Arthur Cooper is a business consultant, writer and publisher. For his mini-course 'Better Management' go to: http://www.barrel- publishing.com/better_management.shtml