Good Enough – When Failure is an Option

If you have not been paying attention, you may have missed this. There is a shift away from the pursuit of perfection. The world is going with “good enough.”

Perfection is dynamic

Products and services have to evolve continually and adapt to the needs and wants of consumers. Many successful products of the decade, have evolved into substantially different versions of their original selves.

Think Apple.

When you hear the acronym “MVP” being bandied about at a business gathering, it is unlikely that they are discussing NBA’s James Harden or NHL’s Taylor Hall but instead espousing the rationale behind launching Minimum Viable Products (MVP) within their respective businesses.

MVP translates to good enough

In layman’s terms, MVP translates to good enough. Perfection is an illusory goal. Businesses in general and startups, in particular, come to realize that their products can always be improved.

The same principles apply to measures of success and onerous processes.

Traditional business plans, based on top-down or bottom-up guesstimates seldom live up to their financial promises and may not be the best performance metrics for progressive companies. A business model canvas that uses a building-block approach to identify and execute on critical business components is being deemed good enough by many startups and modern companies.

The logic is simple

Why spend a ton of money and time on a product if the initial versions of it are unlikely to fly off the shelf? Taking years to perfect a product, before launch, would likely mean that you are late to the market and potentially, out of precious funding.

The goal is to get an MVP in the market quickly with the minimum set of required features and then build upon it based on early-adopter feedback. Iterations become the norm and provide a path to continuous improvement and perfection.

Good enough is not a one and done model

ailure is an option and to some extent, expected. A quick failure minimizes waste in terms of the cost and effort allowing businesses to pivot to viable models more attuned to customer demands.

The thinking is lean

Any component or activity that does not add value can be eliminated. There is no pursuit of perfection, only iterations that improve the product or service.

It’s more about moving the needle, in small increments.

Borrowing from the principles of the fabled Toyota Production System, lean, as a methodology to drive continuous improvement and waste reduction has gained widespread adoption in varied industries and applications.

There is lean manufacturing that cuts out wasteful practices; lean startup that shorten product development cycles; lean government as in Estonia; lean luxury hotels that promise “Absolutely no trouser presses, bellboys, towel swans or pillow chocolates;” and lean airlines that promote self-service to offload check-in formalities to the passengers.

In essence, these companies have eliminated steps or components once deemed essential and still deliver a product good enough for their customer base.

Why should you be any different?

It took me a while to figure out that a lot of smart people adopt the good-enough philosophy in everyday life — be it at the workplace or in social situations. They believe that they are good enough to handle complex challenges, outside their comfort zone, when equally qualified people watch from the sidelines. They probably did not expect to get it right the first time. Failure was an option as long as they learned from it and adapted.

It is time to take stock of your abilities and strengths.

So, are you good enough?