Perfect is the Enemy of Good: A Designer's Tale of Letting Go and Leveling Up

The Aha Moment

Picture this: A young, ambitious designer (yours truly) in the early 2000s, juggling frames, iframes, and Flash like a circus performer on Red Bull. Little did I know that a simple proverb was about to change my entire perspective on design, project management, and life itself.

The Project That Started It All

Brimming with more enthusiasm than a puppy at a tennis ball factory, I landed my first big project: rebranding Uruguay's finest IP and Technology Law firm. The brief? Everything but the kitchen sink (though I'm pretty sure they would've let me redesign that too if I'd asked).

• Logo tweaks
• Business cards
• Brochures
• Website (welcome to the wild world of Web 1.0, where tables ruled and CSS was but a twinkle in a developer's eye)
• Email signatures

The Perfectionist's Dilemma

There I was, determined to create a masterpiece that would make Michelangelo weep. I was polishing pixels like they were rare diamonds, convinced that if I just tweaked that shade of blue one more time, I'd unlock the secret to world peace (or at least win a design award).

Then came the fateful client meeting. As I rambled on about needing more time to achieve pixel perfection, my client looked me dead in the eye and dropped this bombshell:

"Perfect is the enemy of good."

Cue the record scratch. My inner perfectionist gasped in horror. Was this an invitation to mediocrity? A sign that my client didn't appreciate true artistry?

The Lightbulb Moment

It took some time, but eventually, the wisdom sank in. This simple proverb became my Southern Cross (for lack of a North Star in the southern hempisphere), guiding me through the treacherous waters of design, project management, and even my attempts at baking the perfect soufflé (spoiler alert: it always falls flat, but it's still delicious).

Lessons Learned

• Embrace the "good enough" - It's like hitting the sweet spot between "meh" and "I've created a new dimension of awesomeness"
• Promises are like spandex - they should have just enough stretch, but not so much that everything falls apart
• Incremental progress is your friend - Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was any half-decent website
• Leave room for improvement - it gives your clients a reason to come back (besides your charming personality, of course)

The Takeaway

This experience taught me more than just design principles. It showed me how to balance ambition with practicality, how to manage expectations (both the client's and my own), and most importantly, how to deliver value without losing my sanity (or all my hair).

So, whether you're a designer, a project manager, or just someone trying to navigate the choppy waters of perfectionism, remember: Good is not the enemy. It's the ally that gets things done, meets deadlines, and still leaves room for that victory dance (or collapse) at the end of a project.

A Toast to the Wise

To Gustavo Fischer , whose wisdom has echoed through decades of my career: Your simple yet profound advice has saved countless projects, and clients. And to Gustavo Vera Ocampo , who trusted a young, overzealous designer to champion a project that he was clearly unprepared to champion: Your patience and insight laid the foundation for a career filled with learning, growth, and only occasional bouts of pixel-perfectionism.

Here's to embracing the good, aspiring to the great, and leaving "perfect" for the unicorns and fairy tales. After all, in the world of design and business, sometimes "good enough" is perfectly perfect.

?? Thank you

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Andrés Richero has over 20 years of experience at the crossroads of Design and Software. He heads a global team of Design and Research professionals for an enterprise software platform. For the past decade, Andrés has focused on Design Leadership, Community Building, and Practice Development. Proudly, he's Uruguay’s top mentor on ADPList .