Good enough than perfect
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Good enough than perfect
Muse #414 - when is it ever enough?
Several of the recent projects that we did at home taught me a lot of things about what is good enough and about perfection. Actually, that perfection is an impossibility.
After the house painting project was done, when we zoom in and see the work we see a lot of imperfections. If we look close enough we see them in the thousands. Little scratches, aberrations, variations, overlaps of different colors, differences in coverages, etc. If we look even more closely with a tooth comb - using a magnifying lens as an example, we will possibly see millions of imperfections.
However, perhaps the right question is to ask “What is good enough?” and the answer is based on the words “Fit for purpose!” - when you zoom out and look at the finished big picture everything looks great. At this level, if something is jarring and obvious that possibly needs to be fixed. We found a major example in our bathroom where a couple of cupboard sides were not finished with the mild off-white we chose - but it was difficult to see until you looked closely from an angle to find that it was actually not painted at all. We might bring the painter back or perhaps repaint the sides ourselves.
But from the general scheme of things, when looking at the zoomed-out product of the renovation activity, it looks finished. Extremely cohesive and well finished. Good enough. Fit for purpose.
This applied to another scenario from a few weeks ago. I installed a range hood over our stove replacing an old hood that was partly defective. After the installation, I do know where I could have done much better than I did. There were small gaps in the stainless steel alignment to the wall and others things that I knew but no one else would know - perhaps unless they take it apart.
However, I do know that my fit for purpose met several criteria. Safety for one. This hood was fastened well enough that it won’t fall off. The electrical was done 100% correctly. There would be no air leaks from the vent while it was venting outside. Alignment was another. The alignment was plumb and aligned. Spacing was accurate and the hood was perfectly flat and centered. This is added to fit-for-purpose. And when I stepped back and look at it - “Good enough”. And that’s perfect, even though it wasn’t perfection.