In our project team at Hewlett Packard, there was one question that often arose: “When is good enough not good enough? on any project, you can optimize two of the three parameters: Features, Defects, and Schedule. Defects always had to be driven as close to zero as possible. The debate always came down to what features will be in the next release, given a tight schedule. We could stretch out the schedule a bit, but customers expected clean releases on a known schedule. Engineers would push for as many features as possible. Managers would push for a known release date. Toward the end of SoftBench, I was Project Lead and had to come up with solutions that would make both sides not too upset. There was no way to make both sides thrilled by any final compromise.
It was a good team that worked well together. I sometimes think about the work that went into our products and then the reviews. Some were quite good, and some left a bit to be desired. We appreciated the good reviews and learned from the “not-so-good” reviews.
Those who do the Work
Theodore Roosevelt gave a speech in 1940 concerning “The Man in the Arena”
It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs, who comes short again and again.
Because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds, who knows great enthusiasm, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause
Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.....
Those who succeed at work were so who tried, those were courageous enough to propose bold ideas and do it with great hear.
Daring Greatly by Brene Brown
Brene Brown is a researcher/storyteller, as she calls herself. As a side note, storytelling is huge in the Scrum approach to software development. In order to succeed greatly, we must dare greatly. This means accepting ourselves to realize we have our vulnerabilities. There is a good TED talk vulnerability, of love and belonging.
Conclusion
We need to decide our own future. completing a task “good enough” will probably be a successful venture. But it is not satisfying. We need to Dare Greatly and reach for something a little more.