Good Enough

I work in public healthcare, and I would be so happy if I could say that we’re good enough. But we’re told we’re barely enough. I wade in good enough up to my neck every day and it’s crushing my soul. The government in Norway, where I live and have lived my whole life, keeps talking about this wave of old people that’ll crash into the society and crush the public services if we keep doing things the way that we do them. When? Soon they keep saying. They’ve said soon for as long as I can remember and I’m soon 40 years old. Aaa, I’m getting older! So, it’s been said for a while. Perhaps it’s a really large and slow wave? Maybe the kind of wave that’ll fizzle out and never become a wave. Or, maybe the kind of wave that is convenient to talk about and use as a distant threat to keep getting money to keep talking. I don’t know.

But the wave is coming soon! Definitely. Maybe.

Does the government do anything to reduce the impact of this growing wave? No. Does anyone do anything about it? No. Is that good? No. Is that good enough? No. Is that a problem? Yes.

What’s stopping good? And what’s the problem with good enough?

Oh look! I wrote problem. There’s this overwhelming sea of meaningless positivity sloshing about in many of us humans that make us think that words like problem is a problem. Don’t we have enough problems already? Why don’t we solve any of those problems?

Ok, so. This is my opinion on the problem of good enough. And no, you thankfully do not have to agree with me.

Good enough is a perverse and ugly way to make shit even faster, for even more money.

• Output good. Critical thinking bad.
• Fast good. Slow bad.
• Quantity good. Quality bad.

Modern society rely on money to function. More is better. Always. So just make it good enough, won’t you? Good is too much work for too little money. Actually if you can push it out 5 minutes faster, just enough is perfect. And the price will stay the same. Don’t bother with good. Ever. Even if you say you’ll come back around to good later, just forget good like it never existed. Good!

Have you ever heard about the worst concept (method, framework, or whatever) to ever to exist in technology? It’s the minimum viable product. MVP for short. Very much the sibling to good enough. Minimum, with emphasis on minimum, viable product is the dream for leadership and management types of people. Business. To pump out shit like it’s a 1930s factory. You don’t care about what comes out, as long as it looks like you’re putting out work. Keeping oh so busy, preferably with some depression and burnout on top. Pushing releases into production. Put this in there and that on this, probably good enough, right? No need to ask questions or truly test the solution, or even to find out if the solution solves a problem that needs to be solved. A good little patchwork. All the releases!

If your breath is rapidly increasing and your pants are tightening while you read this. Stop.

Instead you should get up and out of your chair, and make the right thing by talking to humans. Preferably drawing squiggly lines while you talk to them, so you truly understand each other. You know humans? Those strange upright creatures on two legs and an O in the middle of their face that open and close. And sometimes, or often depending on how self-centered the human is, there’s noise coming out of the hole. Oh no, run! No, really though, test the solution on the people (or robots, robots have feelings too according to some CEOs) who use the thing or are going to use the thing. Get their feedback on the thing. Use their feedback to make the thing better than what they need. Not good enough. Better. Then test it again and keep improving until it’s done. Is it ever done? It is if you’re good.

So make the next good thing that someone needs. Not that you need, that they need.