Comments on: Excellence – Perfection vs. Efficiency

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 19 May 2008 01:44:02 +0000

@ Mark – Those would be the idea methods to incorporate a “Best Practice” philosophy; however, that’s the not case in state government (at least in the department I worked for in Tennessee state government). Needless to say, anytime I asked why something was considered Best Practice I received a certain look (if you know what I mean). It always struck me how Best Practice never seemed to make its way into policy and procedure. It was a way to duck and dodge those areas. I always wondered how legal counsel within the department would have evaluated our Best Practices with all the court settlements and other court cases which had determined our policies to begin with. Thanks Mark!

By: Mark Shead

Mark Shead — Sun, 18 May 2008 22:59:19 +0000

@Dan – In places I’ve worked, anyone who said something was “Best Practice” had to tell why it was best practice. Often it was just because it was a standardized way of doing things. Sometimes it meant that the lawyers had said it was the course of action least likely to result in a lawsuit. Sometimes it was based on a focus group that had researched the problem several months earlier. However, it was expected that “Best Practice” actually had some type of thought behind it.

By: Dan

Dan — Sat, 17 May 2008 14:28:59 +0000

Great job! I really appreciate the work you put into this and especially the graphic. Now, if only there was a similar definition of, “Best Practice”. I used to work in an organization where ‘best practice’ was used by management to direct changes without having to give an intelligent reason for doing so. The term was used differently for all situations, so there really wasn’t a way to grasp the concept. I have an idea what it should be, but my reasoning and their use of the concept never intersected.

Thank you again!

By: Franchu’s lair » Excelencia vs perfección

Franchu’s lair » Excelencia vs perfección — Fri, 02 May 2008 10:13:57 +0000

[...] He leído en Productivity501.com un artículo muy interesante acerca de las diferencias entre excelencia y perfección. [...]

By: Ariane Benefit

Ariane Benefit — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:08:55 +0000

Right on!!!! Love the visual!!!

By: Mark Shead

Mark Shead — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:21:06 +0000

@Michael – I’m sure there are many other dimensions as well. For example, a gold septic tank probably doesn’t make sense even if it is reasonably inexpensive. It a lot of ways those other dimensions come down to expense in the sense of time though, so I think the two dimensions cover the most important parts.

@techne – I’ve seen that many times. It is amazing how accurate it is.

@Lillie – Nice quote. I’m not against striving for perfection. I’m against doing it without any thought to the cost.

By: Lillie Ammann

Lillie Ammann — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:42:52 +0000

Thanks for the excellent reminder that excellence doesn’t necessarily mean perfection. It made me think of a job I had many years when the agency was running a “zero defects” campaign. One of my co-workers said, “Heck, if I had zero defects, I’d be up in heaven tinklin’ them little bells!”

By: techne

techne — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 03:13:39 +0000

This reminds me of something a friend once had in his .sig:

You can have it done fast |
You can have it done cheap | <- Pick any two
You can have it done right |

By: Michael | University Scholar

Michael | University Scholar — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 03:13:01 +0000

Nice post! I wonder if there is more to excellence than just Efficiency and perfection. If there are more aspects to excellence perhaps the graph will change. The aspects would create a cone shape with excellence as the focus. Like a satellite.