Proud Peacock by Tj Holowaychuk on Unsplash

You hear it all the time. Ship it. Get it out the door. Done is better than perfect.

I‘ve been thinking about that mindset a lot recently. And I’m not sure it’s correct. That’s because for just over a year, I’ve been working on something. I can see the finish line and I’m super-excited! But it feels like it’s taken forever.

If you told me at the beginning that it would take this long, I wouldn’t have believed you. Only after the team started on the project did we see just how many moving parts there were. Plus, lots of elements needed to be hand-crafted, rather than off-the-shelf.

Of course, as with every large project, just when you think you’re done… you realise you’re not. There always seems to be something else, where it’s not yet good enough. I’m for hand on heart proud.

Here’s the thing: Shipping something that’s less than we’re capable of is of little benefit to anyone. Our work says a lot about us. Each project, large or small, adds a building block to our overall reputation. It shows people what we consider worthy of the community we serve. And it’s an insight into the standards we set.

In short, if you can’t deliver with it all tied up with a pretty bow on top, why even bother?