Perfect is the enemy of good

As someone who tries to solve problems and enable better outcomes for people, organisations, customers and markets, I recognise that at times it can be difficult (for me, and for others) to get the balance right between wanting to make the best solution and achieving speed-to-market of a workable solution that is based on a good strategy. Idealism vs Pragmatism. Or, in other words, understanding that value cannot be realised until an object (product, service etc) is available/consumable in the market.

A few months ago I listened to a great podcast from an educator about his attempts to follow a mindset of strategies over solutions in the ideas he chases and seeks to adopt. The core of his message goes something like this:

Too often, we focus on trying to find the solution. "The solution" can be seen as meaning as something like, completely fixing the problem or making it all better.

The trap we can fall into when we have this mindset is that no solution is perfect; there will always be cons to any set of pros, there will always be losers to any group of winners, and trade-offs will always have to be made. Infinite wants will always be constrained by finite resources – time, people, capabilities, will etc. We can therefore become stuck in a state of analysis paralysis, in a never-ending quest for the unattainable or the unwise.

Rather than risking all in a quest for the proverbial Holy Grail - which we may never find, let alone bring to market - the more viable mindset is to think about strategy.

Strategy allows an enterprise to navigate through a problem (or set of problems) in a feasible, coherent way that can be understood, leveraged, scaled and refined. Good strategy development and execution recognises weaknesses, constraints, uncertainty and risk. Good strategy allows you to be move forward, without having to wait for the silver bullet or the perfect design.

Every possible path will have limitations and constraints. New problems may even be introduced because of a path that is taken. But find a good path - develop and execute a good strategy. There is power and confidence in movement along a path, rather than trying to keep every ball in the air, every option in play. And movement - including market feedback - allows for adjustments to be made and improvements to occur.