imperfection by design: ship better, ship now

func Ship(code string) string {
    if goodEnough(code) {
        return deploy(code)
    }
    return overthink(code) // don't do this
}

• perfection is a trap
• whispers sweet promises while stealing your time
• endless tweaks, endless second-guessing, endless delays
• and for what? slightly better shade of blue? another unit test? stop it

startups vs perfection

• think about startups
• ones obsessed with perfect never launch
• ones who ship “good enough” own the market
• they move, they learn, they win
• they understand simplicity over complexity - ship simple, iterate later

the engineer’s dilemma

• our brains love precision
• great for solving problems
• terrible for shipping products
• we obsess over perfect code while competitors grab real users

graph TD
    A[Perfect] --> B[Never Ships]
    C[Good Enough] --> D[Ships Fast]
    D --> E[Real Feedback]
    E --> F[Actually Better]
    style F fill:#f96,stroke:#333,stroke-width:2px

perfect your imperfection

• make it a skill
• once your brain realizes strategic imperfection is the goal, everything changes
• you’re still optimizing - just for outcomes, not perfection

the pareto liberation

• pareto principle isn’t just math - it’s liberation
• 80% of value comes from 20% of work
• spot that 20%, ship it, move on
• embrace exploring vs finalizing - v1 is reconnaissance, not architecture

the reality check

• perfect code never runs
• shipped code changes lives
• zoom out - will anyone notice that extra polish?
• will it change the outcome?
• if not, deploy that shit and start the next thing

perfect isn’t a destination

• it’s a distraction
• done beats perfect
• shipped beats stuck

See also

• simple-complex.md
• exploring-vs-finalizing.md