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T-SQL Tuesday 180 – Good enough is perfect

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For this months T-SQL Tuesday contribution I cover my attempts to get to a level where good enough is perfect.

Before I go any further, I want to thank Josephine Bush (l/x/m) who hosts this months T-SQL Tuesday. Josephine invites us all to discuss how do achieve good enough without compromising the process/product.

You can read the original invitation by clicking on this link for the T-SQL Tuesday 180 invitation. Alternatively, you can click on the image below.

T-SQL Tuesday 180 - Good enough is perfect
T-SQL Tuesday logo

Aiming for good enough is perfect professionally

As Josephine quite rightly mentions in her invite, in modern times there is an expectation to deliver at high standards.

However, when there is also a high expectation to deliver in volumes you need to balance between delivering the perfect solution and what is “good enough to be perfect”. Especially when delivering for larger organizations.

When I am doing this for organizations, I tend to work in a DevOps related way within a team. Ideally working in a Scrum or Agile related way.

By making sure everything is visible on a board for stakeholders as well as team members. My personal preference is to do this with Azure Boards. Since I find it a mature product.

Working this way allows the team to manage expectations and deliver what is required without overloading team members. Because the team can agree to take on new requests and at the same time make it clear when they intend to deliver.

Doing the above allows the team to manage time management better in a tried and tested way. Enabling them to realistically deliver what is expected without overdoing things. Which helps reduce the chance of professional burnouts.

I must highlight something if you are looking to implement a new way of working like in the above example.

You will get resistance somewhere in the business when you first look to implement working in a way similar to the above. Plus, there is a high chance somebody will reference web articles to back up their argument.

My advice is to make sure you are prepared for this. Plus, have a plan that includes showing the benefits of this way of working.

Delegation is what you need

One other point I want to make relating to this is about delegation. In the past I did try and do the majority of things myself in certain roles. Over the years I have got a lot more relaxed about delegation.

One example of this is the team I mentioned in my T-SQL Tuesday 169 post. When I was a Product Owner for a team. I advise you to do the same.

Just because you have clear focus on how something should be done does not mean you should work all hours doing it yourself. Instead, share the workload amongst others to give yourself a break and them a chance to learn.

I chose the title of this section to help those of you from the UK and of a certain age to remember this point. Because you can replace the word dedication that is used in a theme tune from well-known TV series about breaking records to delegation.

Good enough to be perfect can depend on the situation

Even though the above example highlights some key points when aiming to deliver for a level deemed good enough to be perfect in an organization the are circumstances when deciding when good enough is perfect can vary. Especially when working with data.

For example, when you are part of a database team supporting a custom database environment. Because you can aim to constantly review and fine tune your database performance.

In reality, the biggest performance leaps tend to be discovered in the early parts of a performance tuning journey. So, you need to decide when good enough is perfect in this situation.

Of course, diving into the internals of whichever Data Platform offering you are supporting can be advantageous. At the end of the day, you must ask yourself if the additional effort worth it for you at both a personal and professional level.

Because I will be honest with you all now. When I look back in my career there are a couple of items that I now regret looking into as deep as I did. For various reasons, including lifespan of some offerings and my own lack of usage.

I must admit, I also regret not sticking with certain offerings that I worked with during their earlier stages. At the end of the day, you must make the judgement call.

Final words about when good enough is perfect

I hope my T-SQL Tuesday contribution this month about my attempts to get to a level where good enough is perfect makes for an interesting read.

Basically, I use tried and tested working practices to deliver in a timely manner with a standard that meets expectations.

Of course, if you have any comments or queries relating to this post feel free to reach out to me.

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