An Engineer’s Dilemma: Chasing Perfection And Taking Action
Why Action Beats Perfection Every Time
As a fresh engineer in a high-tech company, my first big project is still fresh in my memory. It was one of those projects that can make or break a career. It was an unprecedented software system we were building in the department.
The leadership made it clear: “We need the most efficient and no-error system we can get.” As an ambitious engineer, of course, I took this guidance literally, and I was sure I would clinch the perfect system.
I had spent weeks coming up with every scenario possible. I read thousands of white papers, case studies, and research papers. I drew up the most elaborate designs, arguing with my colleagues over the best algorithms and architectures. Long theoretical considerations supported every decision.
But there was a problem — I wasn’t building anything.
I wanted my prototype to be perfect. I was afraid of making a mistake, that if I did something wrong it would show I was incompetent. So I refined my ideas, lightened my plans.
My colleague Raj, by contrast, took an entirely different approach. He wasn’t one to theorise or over-analyse. And immediately, he began writing code. His initial draft was a disaster.
The interface was clunky, and the program crashed far more often than it ran successfully. But Raj wasn’t discouraged. He debugged one thing, then another.
He recoded parts, adding new features, and slowly, his system became better and better.
After only two months, Raj had what I remember was an actual working model our manager was already reviewing, and I was shocked.
My “perfect” version? It was still on paper.
A Lesson Learned from a Ceramics Class
That’s when I recalled a really intriguing story I had read in the book Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland.
It was about a ceramics class divided into two groups.
On the first day of class, the instructor declared that one group would be graded exclusively on quantity — how many pots they made. Their grade was based on weight:
• Over 30 kg of pots? A grade.
• 20 kg and above? B grade.
• Less than 20 kg? C grade.
The other group was evaluated based on quality. They needed to submit only one pot — their very best work.
If it were perfect, they would earn an A. If it was good but not perfect, a B. Anything less would net them a C.
Now comes the surprising part. In the end, the best pots—the highest-quality ones—were from the quantity group.
Why? As the quantity group kept cranking out pot after pot. They made many mistakes and learned from those.”
They learned something from each mistake, improving with every mistake.
Meanwhile, the quality group spent all their time planning.
They obsessed over the perfect design but never got enough practice making pots.
Despite all the planning, their final submissions weren’t as good as those made by those who had kept making and learning. That story hit me hard.
The Harsh Reality Hits
“Where is your prototype?” one day, our manager called me and asked. I said I was still making the design perfect before I began to code it, He listened patiently and then said something’s stayed with me ever since:
And I’ll leave you with this quote: “Perfection is the enemy of progress. You’re trying to scale Everest by looking at a map. Raj had already scaled halfway up the mountain, learning as he climbed.”
That was my moment in ceramics class.
By the time the final presentations came around, Raj’s model wasn’t perfect but was functional, tested, and continuously improving.
My project? It was still a set of polished diagrams and theoretical justifications, but it didn’t have an actual system to show.
That day, I learned a lesson that changed how I worked for the rest of my career.
Why Action Beats Perfection Every Time
The ceramics class and my own project experience taught me the same lesson:
Just like the students who made more pots ended up making better-quality ones, Raj’s constant trial and error helped him build a superior system—while I was still stuck in the planning stage.
The same lesson applies to every field. Take writers, for example. No one writes a bestselling novel in one perfect draft.
The best writers write, edit, rewrite, and write again. If you want to get better at writing, you don’t sit around waiting for the perfect idea—you start writing.
Or take entrepreneurs. Most of the world’s successful businesses didn’t start ideally.
They launched minimum viable products, tested them, failed, learned, and improved.
Amazon started as an online bookstore in a garage. Google’s first search engine was a crude version of what we use today.
If Jeff Bezos or Larry Page had waited until they created the “perfect” business, they would never have launched one.
What Happens When You Obsessed With Perfection
A few things happen when you focus on making something perfect before you take action:
You procrastinate – while you polish your ideas, someone else builds theirs.
You learn less — Theory cannot replace field experience.
You get scared of failure – The apprehension of not being perfect, preventing you from even trying.
The reality is that quantity brings quality. Practice makes perfect, after all. Progress is made in motion, not in stagnation.
A Final Thought
If you want to bake the perfect cake, don’t just read recipes—bake one. It might be dry. It might not rise. But bake another. And another. And soon, you’ll have a cake that everyone loves.
If you’re in sales, don’t spend months researching the perfect client—make the call.
The more people you reach out to, the higher your chances of success are.
And if you’re an engineer like me, don’t just sit on ideas—build something, test it, fail, and improve.
Because, in the end, the masterpiece isn’t created by dreaming about it. It’s created by doing.
Thomas Edison once said, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.”
So get started. Take action. Fail fast, learn faster, and improve constantly. Quantity isn’t the enemy of quality—it’s the path to it
