Good Enough

In my very first job as a young engineer fresh out of college, I worked under an old, curmudgeonly manager who was approaching retirement. Bob (his real name) was an anxious chain-smoker, in the days when smoking in the office was allowed. For all his idiosyncrasies, he taught me some important lessons about “thinking outside the book” (my words, not his). Without articulating it explicitly, Bob clearly understood the difference between knowledge (information about a subject) and wisdom (good sense, judgment and insight). When prioritizing our work load, Bob would often say “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Getting one thing perfect was less satisfying to Bob than producing lots of things.

The origin of this phrase is a bit murky, but it is often credited to Bert Lance, Director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Carter administration. Bert was first quoted as saying it in the May 1977 issue of the magazine Nation’s Business. Author William Safire wryly commented that it “has become a source of inspiration to anti-activists.” The expression went viral, before viral was even a thing.

Our academic experience is the beginning of the relentless pursuit of perfection that plagues many of us. Efforts are constantly being assigned a place on the scale, with “A” being perfect, “B” and “C” good enough, and anything less a failure. In today’s culture, leisure is looked upon with envy — a leisurely attitude toward work is not. It is common to hear the term “Puritan Work Ethic”, referring to the pervasive and desirable drive to work hard. The Puritans, as it turns out, were working hard not to get better stuff, but to appease God and better their chances for salvation. <continue reading>