A related problem is being mistaken about how high the quality bar of a task actually is. Perhaps also known as ‘obsessing.’
Dropping the quality bar for a task is one of the best techniques I’ve ever encountered for getting annoying tasks finished. Seeing the quality bar’s position is the first step to questioning it, and I think a lot of the culture and education that my friends and I have encountered tries to taboo the concept of imagining that such a bar could ever be set in a position other than maximum.
Claiming that the bar has to be set to max works well for forcing people of average skill or motivation in a particular area to produce an adequate product, but that system falls apart as soon as one encounters a problem on which one’s personal skill or knowledge or motivation raises the maximum conceivable quality of output to a level that’s impractical or undesirable to strive for.
Dropping the quality bar for a task is one of the best techniques I’ve ever encountered for getting annoying tasks finished. Seeing the quality bar’s position is the first step to questioning it, and I think a lot of the culture and education that my friends and I have encountered tries to taboo the concept of imagining that such a bar could ever be set in a position other than maximum.
Claiming that the bar has to be set to max works well for forcing people of average skill or motivation in a particular area to produce an adequate product, but that system falls apart as soon as one encounters a problem on which one’s personal skill or knowledge or motivation raises the maximum conceivable quality of output to a level that’s impractical or undesirable to strive for.