John was handed a career-defining project, the new five-year product roadmap for the enterprise networking division. He spent weeks agonizing over every detail, making sure the roadmap was perfect. While John was crafting the perfect pitch, a competitor announced a good-enough version of the same strategic roadmap. The executive team saw John’s perfectionism as someone too slow to react in a fast market. He’s no longer trusted to lead a high-stakes launch.
I’ve seen more products and projects stalled by endless twiddling before launch than by minor errors. Being in a senior role means iteration and rapid fixes are the norm. You must be brave enough to release Version 1.0 fast and follow up with rapid corrections as needed. This does not mean you throw bad-quality products at your customers. Stick to a high-quality minimum viable product and ship fast. Thomas Curran’s HBR article, “The Paradox of Perfectionism,” shows you the cost of this trap.
For your next project, share it with your reviewers or peers when it’s 80% complete. If you have to, call it a draft. Use their feedback to finish the final 20% instead of guessing in a vacuum. You may be surprised to find that 80% is enough to launch.
Suresh