A finished product is better than a perfect product
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At what expense are you pursuing perfection?
Staying up to perfect a piece of work used to be a solution. However, if you are a corporate slave as I am, chances are that you are no longer are you in full control of your day’s task and schedule.
Everything has its trade-off, so what’s a better trade-off?
I came to realise the importance of creating a functional copy of work. From a value standpoint, the imperfect piece of completed work provides the receiver with a higher utility compared to the incomplete work.
To put things into perspective, the imperfect work is likened to a basic and functional car. The perfect but incomplete work just like a fancy car without its wheels or engine. No matter how fancy your car is if it can’t even move an inch, what use does it have?
Where do I begin?
1. Start small, pursue an iterative approach
Remind yourself that you can come back to it. With lesser time spent on each component, you will (hopefully) have enough time to revisit the other components of your work to fine-tune it. As you go along, you will have a larger picture in mind. You may even come to realise that there are other areas which require your attention more than the finer details which you were spending hours fretting over at the start.
2. Get comfortable with an imperfect piece of work
Start with a realistic outlook at the time given for you to complete the task and your expected pace of work. Break it down such that you manage your expectations on the time you should be spending for each component. Time creep is real, so always give yourself ~20% buffer time.
3. Keep the format of the expected output in mind
It may be tempting to work in another platform/format especially when you know its superiority. But integration is going to be time-consuming. It’s either you allocate yourself ample integration time or just work on the specified platform.
Caveat
If you’re in the planning phase of work, it’s always worth spending more time. In general, it’s harder to undo poor planning. Think of it in terms of the 80:20 principal. Not to mention, some jobs require more precision than others and an iterative approach may not be feasible. Always consider your current circumstance before fully committing to anyone’s advice. What I worked for me may not necessarily work for you depending on what your background is.
But remember, perfect is often a subjective measure.
