Comments on: Debbie Goddard is a true Minnesotan

By: debbiegoddard

debbiegoddard — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 23:38:31 +0000

That’s a helpful concept to understand; it’s something I thought about again today while trying to get through a pile of e-mails from the weekend. I can’t answer each with a masterpiece, or I’ll never get through them all! And I have a lot of work to do, sheesh.

By: BRamsey

BRamsey — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:46:18 +0000

Lagom, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagom, a word I first learned in an article about Linus Torvald.

It’s also appropriate for evolution. Natural selection produces organisms that are juuust good enough, not some perfect, Platonic ideal.

By: Art

Art — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 22:13:03 +0000

I tell my help I want a “solid ‘B’ effort”. I don’t want 100% because that implies that you drop dead shortly thereafter. Salmon and cuttlefish give 100% and then die. Getting rid of the bodies, and filling out paperwork, is always a pain. Give 85% of what you think 100% is and it will be good enough.

I don’t want perfect. I want ‘just good enough’ with a little margin to spare.

By: Trebuchet

Trebuchet — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 17:29:14 +0000

I like it!

There’s an old, stupid saying: “Anything worth doing is worth doing well.”

Trebuchet’s corollary: Some things are not worth doing, but we’re required to do them anyway. (Status reports for inept management come to mind.) Don’t worry about doing them well.