What If "Good Enough" Isn't Enough?

I am going to reveal one of my major weaknesses in this post, but first, let me tell you a story.

In the late 1990's I worked in a software start-up in London. Crazy times. It was the dotcom boom, the pace was relentless and it's the only place I have ever worked with a Champagne fridge in the corner of the office. Cheers.

I was a member of the core development team for the whole company and we had a massive problem. We were trying to reengineer our main product without breaking systems that major companies were relying on. For context, British Telecom relied on our software to manage their critical infrastructure. It couldn't be allowed to break.

One week we had a really sticky problem and we were locked in a room trying to solve it. We had all the brightest minds in the company, pizza ordered in for lunch, 12-hour days and lots of stress. But whatever we tried, we couldn't crack the problem.

Then, on Thursday afternoon someone came up with a workaround. We patched together some code with our fingers crossed, we tested it and found it worked. A ripple of relief and joy went around the team. We were exhausted, but we'd done it. So we popped some of the office Champagne and then went to the pub.

The next morning I wandered in a little bleary-eyed and late to find Andrew (one of the senior developers) already sat at his desk, smiling. I realised that Andrew hadn't been in the pub with the rest of us. And I asked him what he was doing.

"I solved the problem" he said.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "We solved it yesterday."

"Ah" said Andrew, "but that wasn't an elegant solution."

And that phrase has stuck in my head for more than 25 years.

It turned out that Andrew has worked late, on his own, then come in early because he knew our "solution" wasn't going to work in the long run. So, rather than accept that, he kept going, looking for inspiration, trying to achieve a higher standard.

Hardly anyone outside our team would ever have known what happened. But Andrew became an inspiration to all of us that day. His solution was the real one we had been looking for. And he probably earned the company millions by refusing to accept something that was "good enough".

Now, I suspect Andrew was just like that. I suspect he had a problem-solver's eye for a solution. That's not my default wiring.

Someone who knew me incredibly well used to say that my tombstone should read "That'll do" or "Good enough", because that's my tendency. And that serves me very well a lot of the time. I don't struggle with the need to be perfect, and so I finish a lot of things, which means I can be very productive.

However, I am also aware that sometimes "good enough" just isn't enough. For example, when working with clients I do everything I can to be totally present and attentive. I never compromise on that. Quality in those moments is the foundation of my success. Whereas, the occasionall spekking mistake in these emails is less important.

So, the moral of this story is, understand your strengths and weaknesses. Work with your strengths and mitigate your weaknesses. But always, if possible, find an elegant solution.

Have a lovely day, Stephen