Perfect Is the Enemy of Good

Voltaire's principle: pursuing perfection often prevents delivering anything at all. The last 20% of quality improvement typically requires 80% of the effort. Perfectionism creates procrastination, missed deadlines, and enormous opportunity costs. The strategic question is always: what level of quality is sufficient for this context? Shipping 'good enough' almost always beats endlessly polishing toward perfect.

When to use it

When a project is stuck in endless refinement. When 'just one more improvement' keeps delaying delivery. When deciding between launching now and polishing more. When perfectionism is causing stress or missed deadlines.

How it can help

The antidote to perfectionism-driven procrastination and over-engineering. Helps calibrate the right quality level for each situation. Particularly important in fast-moving environments where speed-to-market matters more than polish.