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Happy Tuesday!
In school you were probably given grades based on how well you were able to complete assignments, write papers, and answer test questions. Everything that "mattered" in terms of your academic performance was assessed on a scale of:
A. Great
B. Good
C. Ok
D. Bad
F. Fail
Whether or not you hated this system, whether or not you excelled, the scale was very clear. There was always a strong connection between inputs (studying specific subject areas) and outputs (grades).
But after graduating school and leaving the grading system behind, it's common to discover that an "A" is not strictly better than a "B" or a "C". In many situations, it's actually better to do "C" level work than "A" level work.
And for a lot people, especially those who prided themselves on their ability to earn "A" grades and do "A" level work, this is very distressing. If you still believe in the virtue of doing consistently "Great" work, you might find this uncomfortable. I certainly do.
So when is this the case? When would "Ok" actually be far better than "Great"?
All the time in turns out.
For most tasks, there's usually a non-linear relationship between the effort expended on any given task and the quality of the output.
The more effort you put in, the higher quality the output. Becoming more skilled helps you to push that curve down so that you don't need to put in as much effort. Regardless of your skill level however, it's still usually harder to go from "Good" to "Great" than from "Bad" to "Ok".
In a large number of situations it's just too expensive or takes too long to produce "A" level work. Very often it's far better to just "get it done" and move on to something else. Sometimes, it's way more useful to be able to hammer out a lot of "C" quality work than far fewer "A" quality pieces.
But there's a catch.
Other times you do actually need to produce really great work. Sometimes your ability to apply all your skill and expertise to produce "A" level work is all that matters.
So how do you know when "A" level work is required and when "C" level work is required?
Getting good at answering this question is the ultimate meta skill. It is a force multiplier that separates people who can be extremely effective and those that squander all their time and money working on the wrong things.
The problem is that answering this question is really, really hard.
It's hard for two reasons:
The first reason is that knowing which work matters enough to invest "A" level effort requires you to be able to predict the value of that output. It requires you to make a judgment about the future.
Most of us are terrible at predicting the future.
Who knows what product features customers will care about? Who knows which elements of the story readers will connect with? Who knows what line of research will lead to the great discovery?
It's like the artist who releases an album with a completely forgettable title track. To the artist that song anchors the album and maybe took the most effort. But the audience doesn't care, they like what they like.
It's the core problem underlying the 80/20 rule which states that 80% percent of value comes from 20% of the work. But how do you know which work is going to be that 20%?
We try to offset this risk by doing research and planning. We try to assess the future value of doing this versus that. Our prediction attempts aren't necessarily a waste of time but they're also expensive and, depending on the complexity of the situation, more or less effective.
As the old Yiddish saying goes, "Man Plans, and God Laughs."
The second reason that it's so difficult to know when do to "A" level work versus "C" level work has nothing to do with a lack of information.
It's that as craftspeople, as experts, we become emotionally invested in what we do.
We enjoy the work for the sake of itself. Creating something exceptional, something of quality, gives us great satisfaction and sense of accomplishment. Producing "A" level work is a demonstration to ourselves of our abilities and an expression of the years of hard work it took to gain that skill.
This is why we do what we do.
The problem is that this emotional attachment and love for the craft itself is often at odds with a higher objective. If only "C" level work is required then while it feels good to create "A" level work it is also a waste.
You see this in young writers who learn a new word or discover an interesting fact about some topic. They bend over backwards to try and incorporate this new (usually long or obscure) word or anecdote into their essay even when it adds nothing to their core argument or the overall context. (I still do this ... )
"But it's so cool!" they think, "look how smart I am and how much research I've done!"
In my work, where I am trying to build a company and launch a product, it's very difficult to know when I need to do "A" level work and when "C" level work is good enough. With limited time and money I don't get that many chances to invest in "A" level work.
At the early stages of building a company, where there is so little information about what will actually produce value it feels like I should never be doing "A" level work at all. Everything should be a "C" or a "B".
Everyone talks about building an MVP (minimum viable product) and getting it out to market quickly. But unless you've gone through the process yourself you don't realize that the very idea of an MVP is amorphous.
What does "viable" mean anyway? What features require "A" level work for viability and where is "B" or "C" level work sufficient?
I'm still working through these questions but here are a few closing suggestions that might be useful to anyone grappling with the same issue. These strategies help me shut up the craftsman inside me that is constantly dissatisfied and always wants to do "A" level work:
1) After a task has reached the "Ok" level, take a long break. A day is usually enough. By then you care less and the emotional pull is weaker.
2) After a task has reached the "Ok" level, write down everything that you plan to do in the future to make it better. Just writing it down relieves some of that psychic pressure and gives you reassurance that you're not a crappy engineer, writer, artist etc.
3) This is my last resort and is a bit of a cheat but can help. Give it ONE piece of flair. Do one thing to make it feel right. Hang your hat on this and let the rest of it be "Good Enough" so you can just move on.
That's all for now! If you have found good strategies of dealing with this problem of knowing when to do "A" level work and when "C" level work is "Good Enough" then let me know, I would love to get your advice!
Cheers,
Nick