Intentional Imperfection

Ray Dalio shared a daily principle - “Be an imperfectionist.” The LinkedIn post is here. This post reminded me of two of the quotes I have collected over the years.

“The perfect is the enemy of the good.” - Voltaire

The idea that anything can be perfect is a flawed premise. Nothing can be perfect. If you do believe you have built an ideal solution, something will change in the environment. As you learn more information and gather more data, something will change your underlying assumptions. Your perfect solution suddenly has imperfections and must adapt. Evolution is the key to success. You build a plan at the beginning, start your journey, and adjust as you learn.

“A specification that will not fit on one page of 8.5x11 inch paper cannot be understood.” - Mark Ardis

The idea that there are perfect solutions to complex problems is a flawed premise. To build the perfect solution, you need a plan that is complete and accurate at a microscopic level of detail. Even if you could be a plan to this level of detail, it would not survive realty.

The planning that went into the D-Day invasion of Normandy provides an excellent case study. Planning began more than a year before the invasion and tens of thousands of allied troops from several countries trained for months. At the very beginning of the battle, many things did not go as expected. The weather was bad, which caused landing vessels to miss their targets. Paratroopers often ended up miles from their intended drop zones. D-Day was a success because each platoon, squad, and company knew their objective. The plan was imperfect; the planning was indispensable, the objectives were clear, and the training was thorough.

If you accept the reality of imperfection and focus on developing well defined and achievable objectives, you will achieve more, and your successes will be more meaningful.