Running the perfect experiment

Have you got an idea to launch or run something? A concept or possibility that’s not yet real or tangible? 

Let’s take the idea and run an experiment. You know, test some of it out. 

Simple right? Aaah no, not so simple. 

Experiments may be all cool and startup-ish but we can so fear messing up or looking bad that we don’t even attempt an experiment at all!

For all the ‘fail fast’ messages blaring at us, we can find the action of testing something still too big a step to take. 

Are we expecting the perfect experiment? 

Do we keep working tweaking reading learning and writing until we become closer to 100% sure it will work? 

Where is the experiment part then?

Experiments are wonderful for discovery, to find out. If we don’t experiment we won’t find out. No matter how much thinking we put into it. 

It’s the ideal time to try some new and different things ... to discover what happens. 

If not now, when? 

There’s a hypothesis, hunch or idea on your list there. How about donning the lab coat, firing up the Bunsen burner and getting some feedback and insights from a petite experiment? 

I will if you will. 

Ready? 

Good leadership means knowing when to go for 'good enough

Good leadership means knowing when to go for 'good enough' - for yourself and your team.

An article in CEOWORLD magazine explains how increments and iterations are the new perfect.

How do you do it?

1. Set a course for good enough rather than the pointless pursuit of perfection.

2. Stop expecting or requiring perfection. Accept first drafts, rough cuts and mock ups. The design industry and many other sectors thrive on them, gaining early feedback, ensuring efficiency of work going forward.

3. Make the standard clearer. Great leaders clarify the end goal or outcome, beyond a generic call for ‘high quality or ‘really good’. Explain the standard in a measurable way.

4. Improve over time. Allow learning, iterations and insights to build on first attempts.

The best and brightest organisations know the power of improving over time rather than expecting perfect. Most of all, assess whether you can go for ‘ish’ - somewhat, near enough - on more things, where near enough is good enough. Is 'ish' feasible, doable or acceptable? It’s a major productivity gain and it’s more motivating for teams when they complete work.