RE: INCREDIBLE YOU! AND THE IMPOSSIBLE PURSUIT OF PERFECTION
It's an interesting premise and I honestly hadn't thought of it that way. I am a pretty bad procrastinator myself. I would normally attribute it to a dilemma of choice - too many things to do and not wanting to waste time on the wrong thing. So I end up spending time on things that do not matter. I guess you could re-cast my problem as trying to perfect my time allocation so again, really about perfectionism.
As I read your post I actually thought about how it might relate to software engineering and the "Agile Manifesto" which has, in its original statement "Twelve principles" which include
- Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
- Working software is the primary measure of progress.
- At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.
Although originally targeted at how teams and companies could develop software for customers I think those could equally apply to how we, as individuals, treat delivering happiness to ourselves. I'm not that familiar with it but I think these items above have a strong overlap with the "get things done" system.
Relating to your "perfectionism" argument - Agile fights against the notion that you can plan in great detail the perfect system that needs to be built for a multi-month project before you even start work on it. No one really knows what this perfect system is and even if it was expressed perfectly upfront by the time you get there you and probably the customer will have changed the goal-posts and decided they want something very different. That's the problem - perfection is an unattainable and unknowable goal.
Just how many great movies have I seen where I think of the director slaving away to create and then edit the perfect movie. Then I go watch it and think - wouldn't it have been better if... Hence we so many movies that have multiple cuts released long after they hit the theaters and are probably still a compromise.
Short term goals and working solutions get you somewhere. And when you are somewhere it's a lot, lot, easier to figure out where to go next. When you have nothing done - you're stuck with a blank slate and all the issues of writers aka procrastinators block.
Thanks for making me think about this! It might actually help because you got me somewhere (believe me, I have a book on procrastination but never got around to reading it!)
Thanks for your reply, you make some interesting points. There are many reasons for procrastination however the pursuit of perfection is a biggie. So many projects got shelved because 'it's not quite right yet'. As much as I don't like Apple, they are the absolute antithesis of the 'not quite right' mindset.
They simply release their products warts and all, then let their loyal fanbase tell them what's wrong with their latest phone that burns your leg when you put it in your pocket or whatever. They are definitely adhering to the principle of working (product) software is the primary measure of success.
Speaking of those principles they definitely resonate with me, and like you say can be perhaps applied to delivering happiness, and as you rightly point out there is overlap with the GSD system.
I think the big takeaway is don't be afraid to get things wrong, or have people point out that you've got things wrong. Those fears are what drive the perfectionist to tinker forever, not wanting to face the daunting prospect of being told they are wrong.
Thanks for the heads up on the Agile Manifesto, I'll check that out :-)
Cg
Let's just say some people have a big problem with criticism - it becomes very hard for them to put themselves out there "early" or "often" at anything short of perfection when they think they will be immune to it. Or at least in their eyes able to dismiss it as being wrong because they know it is perfect in their eyets. But guess what, at least in art, pretty much everything is subjective so even the perfect work of art will get criticised.
In code or industrial design - there's a much more objective measure of perfection (not crashing and not burning the user are good qualities to have). So then it is down to setting objective measures of what is acceptable.
It's interesting what you said about Apple - I'm guessing things were different with the company under Steve. I mean isn't the reason why the Apple Watch took so long to come out was because he couldn't get it good enough? I think we has a perfectionist but also a realist who perhaps also valued form over function enough to realease beautiful devices that didn't work as well as they should.
Yes some people it is impossible to give constructive criticism to, I think even in code or industrial design it is easy to suffer from the same malaise. Take Steemit for instance, last year I was a pretty loud voice shouting that Steemit inc. should be doing more to market the platform.
Time and again I was given the 'it's not ready' excuse, 'we're still in beta' and blah, blah, blah. My answers then were pretty congruent with what I've written above; "let's just get it out there and see what feedback comes in, and then use that to improve."
It seemed to rub people up the wrong way, so I gave up, as my intention was never to antagonise anybody, just to give constructive criticism which could be acted upon.
As far as Jobs was concerned, I think you're right with the form over function argument. However products were still rushed out when he was in charge, I remember the laptop that burned your lap if you placed it on your legs. I'm guessing the reason he took so long over the watch, was because he couldn't get the marketing strategy right.
After all, there's not much to those watches is there? They alert you to stuff going on, on your phone and that's it.
I think Job's version of perfection was getting something nice and shiny out that people would appreciate the look of. He realised that people wanted electronics that looked cool and worked to a minimum basic standard.
That's not to say they didn't innovate under him, quite the opposite, however he realised the futility of perfection.
Cg