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When Functional Is Not Good Enough, Perfect Isn’t Either
We can try better instead
In this fast world of hours, functional is often the best we can do. As a horde of problems ram against the gates of our inner peace, we crave easy, rapid victories. Of course, most of us understand our problems aren’t independent accidents but connected events arising from the structures in which we work. However, a quick response lets us breathe for a second before moving on to the next urgency.
Naturally, functional fixes are often ephemeral solutions to perennial problems that will continue to pressurise us, relentless, mindless, and out of our control. Frequently, we find ourselves wishing we had the time to establish robust systems to prevent the issues from appearing, dealing with them at the root. Inevitably, the time never comes because we have invested — willingly or not — in the short term, and the short term never ends. If we ever catch ourselves defending our output by saying something like “but it works”, we will know we have probably fallen into a trap.
On the other hand, an alternative to this functional approach is aiming for perfection. This is equally problematic because it is akin to never settling, which makes for a fantastic slogan but not a viable way of life. Just as predators rest between hunts, humans also need a break from the…