Done or Done Right

What’s better, done or done right?  Completion or progress?  Timeliness or accuracy?  Ready, fire, aim or ready, aim, fire?  Quantity or quality? 

We’ve heard the saying ‘Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.’  Fair point.  If you only accept perfection, you may never reach the finish line.  That's a problem.  However, we’ve also heard ‘Do it once and do it right.’  If you have to re-do something multiple times because it wasn’t completed correctly the first time, that’s a problem too.  So if both approaches are right, you can see how trying to achieve the appropriate balance may be a significant source of stress and frustration for workers everywhere.

So which approach you choose probably depends on a number of factors.  These factors can potentially be as long as your grocery list, including company culture, past behavior, boss/customer perspective, relationship with boss/customer, level of priority of task, level of priority of other tasks to complete, ethics, and motivation level.

Quality vs. quantity is one of these 'done or done right' scenarios that workers struggle with every day.  Here's a look at some of the points that need to be considered and potential outcomes.

Quality:

Methodically work through a project, thoroughly understand the problem, anticipate and address potential roadblocks, maximize efficiencies, keep all interested parties involved and informed, ultimately complete the project with minimal or no subsequent errors.

                Good:  Far better chance of quality product done right the first time.  Greater chance of cooperative teamwork.  Much better chance of low stress level for all parties involved.

                Bad:  Generally takes longer to complete.  Perfectionist mindset can cripple productivity. 

Quantity:

Generally seen in deadline driven environments or where quota systems are used.  Complete a project solely to meet deadline.  If deadline is arbitrary or unrealistic, it will likely result in project 2.0 or beyond; fixing bugs and errors could take up exponentially more time.  A key to determine is whether it’s a manager or customer’s unrealistic expectation or truly a hard deadline (i.e. tax filing, contractually agreed-upon reporting due date).  Does management truly understand what needs to go into successfully completing the project? 

                Good:  Crank out high volume of work.  Product will be completed/delivered.

                Bad:  Creates an urgent over important atmosphere.  May require lots of follow up and corrections.  Can result in finger pointing and blame game politics.  Greater chance for higher stress levels.  Quality may suffer.

 

Clearly, done or done right is all in the eyes of the beholder.  Acknowledging that there’s a big difference between completing a project and completing a project successfully, done or done right decisions will continue to dramatically affect the productivity and stress levels of workers everywhere.