The talks for SS06 and SS07 were presented much better, so it seems like a matter of investing less effort in preparing for the talk (perhaps with less-time-than-expected making the challenge of happening to be prepared anyway harder), rather than of not being able to present well.
Which is why I explicitly went out of my way to modify the saying to ‘this’, sacrificing catchiness so it was clear to readers that I was not asserting “If a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing well” as a general claim. Without success, it would seem.
The talks for SS06 and SS07 were presented much better, so it seems like a matter of investing less effort in preparing for the talk (perhaps with less-time-than-expected making the challenge of happening to be prepared anyway harder), rather than of not being able to present well.
That being the case it may have been a time to consider the heuristic “if this is worth doing it is worth doing well” and apply modus tollens.
It’s a catchy saying. It may or may not be a good heuristic.
It certainly doesn’t hold in every case.
It might have in this case.
Which is why I explicitly went out of my way to modify the saying to ‘this’, sacrificing catchiness so it was clear to readers that I was not asserting “If a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing well” as a general claim. Without success, it would seem.