“Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it.” ...

Let me tell you the story of the best client I've ever worked with...

Just to protect the innocent, I'll not mention their name, but they were a major retailer, covering 10+ countries, with a massive market-share in their chosen markets, an enviable share price, and a more impressive PE ratio. They were (and are) a serious business.

We started the project with some incredibly tight deadlines - months to deliver when other customers would have settled for years.

And... the team delivered...

I'd been intimately involved with the customer, every day, and couldn't believe:

• Their ability to prioritise requirements
• Their flexibility
• Their negotiation skills. "OK - if we do X, we get Y. What do we get if we select Z?"

We go live on time (dammit... slightly over budget...10%.. who is counting...)

Later, I have the most amazing meeting with the HR Director, who has been hugely involved with the project - meeting with us daily; prioritising; negotiating; haggling; managing.

And I say to him: "You've been the most amazing client ever. As a partnership, we've moved faster, with more clarity, with the highest risk tolerance, than I've ever experienced. How did you do this?

And his answer?

"As a company, our philosophy is it doesn't have to be good. It has to be good enough"

Take a minute to breathe that in...

What's your goal? Good? Great? Or good enough?

We often worship at the altar of excellence. Sometimes, excellence is good enough.

But... a lot of the time... good enough is good enough.

Final thoughts...

What this HR Director taught me was this: Have a clear picture of what your MVP is - and chase that down. If you understand that, you've hit the 80/20 principle - 80% of the work will take 20% of the time; the final 20% will take 80% of the time.

And...the final 20%... is still only 20% of the value.

It doesn't have to be good. It has to be good enough....