I think it may as well be anxiousness: believing that your product is really terrible and you can’t possibly dare to release it until it’s just another bit better, ad infinitum. One needs to work up the courage to betray the ideal conception of one’s work and settle for reality instead… always a disappointment!
You are correct that the perfectionist is scared… but of what exactly?
Vinod Kharesays:
Perfectionists are scared of failure. If you never finish anything and never put it out there, you will never be judged.
Perfectionism in mild forms leads to procrastination and in severe forms even to depression. Burka and Yuen talk about if in their 1983 book ‘Procrastination’.
Well said. I struggle with this daily. There are always tradeoffs and some things can not be perfect and still be good without just being ‘good enough’. I hate good enough.
That’s the struggle. Knowing that I am shipping something that solves a problem and is good, but not perfect.
I think it may as well be anxiousness: believing that your product is really terrible and you can’t possibly dare to release it until it’s just another bit better, ad infinitum. One needs to work up the courage to betray the ideal conception of one’s work and settle for reality instead… always a disappointment!
@Nahr
You are correct that the perfectionist is scared… but of what exactly?
Perfectionists are scared of failure. If you never finish anything and never put it out there, you will never be judged.
Perfectionism in mild forms leads to procrastination and in severe forms even to depression. Burka and Yuen talk about if in their 1983 book ‘Procrastination’.
http://www.amazon.com/Procrastination-Why-You-What-About/dp/020155089X
Well said. I struggle with this daily. There are always tradeoffs and some things can not be perfect and still be good without just being ‘good enough’. I hate good enough.
That’s the struggle. Knowing that I am shipping something that solves a problem and is good, but not perfect.
A very nice post on Coding Horror: Fail Early, Fail Often http://blog.codinghorror.com/fail-early-fail-often/