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RE: How do you handle knowing "It Could Be Better"?
Subject:RE: How do you handle knowing "It Could Be Better"? From:Steve Shepard <STEVES -at- YARDI -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 9 Oct 2002 09:24:31 -0700
When I took one of my first writing assignment at this company to my boss,
he flipped threw it and said, "Good... no blank pages. Print it." No lie,
that's an exact quote. So, "It could be better" is all in the eyes of the
beholder, or the boss in this case.
We can always do better. No matter how much time, money, resources, and
people we have, we can always do better. But, eventually we run into two
problems:
1. Sooner or later we reach the point of diminishing returns. At some point
the time spent polishing begins to take more time than it's worth. That can
be true of making sure every thing is clear, complete, and concise, or
obsessing over comma placement.
2. There are things we see that no one else does. And do fixing those things
really make the work any better if no one notices? Or, more importantly,
does fixing those things really make the product easier to use? If not, then
why bother?
Maybe the better question is when is it GOOD ENOUGH?
We are working a on a style guide in our department. And we are at the point
now where we have to decide the level of detail we want defined in the style
guide. And while we would like 100% consistency at every level, at some
point we have to say enough is enough. Otherwise we will end up spending a
great detail of precious time making sure that every sentence adheres to an
exhaustive style guide and all the while fixating over things that the
average user will never notice or care about.
At some point even the best craftsman has to say "it's good enough."
Steve Shepard
Technical Communications Manager
Yardi Systems, Inc.
819 Reddick Ave.
Santa Barbara, CA 93103
805.966.3822
steves -at- yardi -dot- com
www.yardi.com
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