Simplify

I’m a perfectionist. I always have been. I struggle every day with wanting everything to be perfect. I’ve spent the past 10 yeas working at internet companies. For anyone who has ever used a website before (clearly you), this isn’t going to come as much of a surprise. But it turns out software (including websites) aren’t perfect and never will be.

One debate we often have at work is when should particular bugs be fixed, if ever. Those last two words are the kicker. That’s right: if ever.

Despite being a perfectionist, somewhere down the line, I learned about opportunity cost. It turns out not all bugs should be fixed. This was an amazingly difficult concept for me to understand. With bugs, the argument is two-fold:

1. Whenever you change code, you run the risk of introducing bugs. To fix bugs, you need to change code. Thus fixing bugs often begets more bugs. Side note: begets is a great word.
2. Fixing bugs comes at a cost of not building other things. This means that the outcome of fixing a bug has to be more valuable than the outcome of any other thing that could possibly be built with the same resources.

Now fortunately for most bugs, this evaluation is easy. The bug impacts many users and is important to our business or customers are upset or it leaves us vulnerable or … a million other things. You get the idea.

But there are always those other bugs that are much harder to classify. They don’t affect many people, but they look bad. How bad? Does it really matter? Are we being perfectionists or is it really important? I’ve found that these decisions are often the toughest. Learning to make them quickly and decisively has saved me much time over the past ten years.

Learning to let go of perfection and focus instead on desired outcomes and recognizing “good enough” has helped me enormously in my career. Now you might not work in software, but this philosophy works in every day life as well. It really comes down to filtering out the noise and focusing on what’s important. It’s not about being perfect in everything, it’s about being good enough in the things that matter.

I’ve been bogged down with a nasty cold all week. As a result, I’m not sleeping well, I have no energy, and generally feel terrible. And yet, this week I:

• Went to work all five days.
• Woke up at least an hour earlier than usual (to catch up), three of the five work days
• Played in a hockey game
• Took a skating lesson
• Went to a pubic skating session to work on what I learned in my lesson
• Attended four social events

Despite my efforts, I’m still learning how to slow down.

I work at a startup and we are currently going through a rough patch where several people are feeling overwhelmed and stretched far too thin. It’s interesting to see how different people react and what works and does not work. I have found the following steps help quite a bit when trying to keep your head above water.

1. Take a deep breath.

It’s really easy to focus on the sky falling around you. But running around, shouting that the sky is falling isn’t going to get you anywhere. Stop for a minute, take a deep breadth. Calming down and focusing on the tasks at hand is the first step to picking up the pieces.

2. Make a list - Write down the problems not the solutions.

When you don’t write things down, it’s easy to bounce from problem to problem, making each seem bigger than it actually is. Focus on the problems, not the solutions. You won’t find suitable solutions until you clearly identify the problems. Often times, we feel overwhelmed because our “solutions” aren’t actually solving our problems. To avoid this, clearly define each problem. Be as specific as you can.

Often times, clearly defining and listing out the problems is enough for people to realize the sky isn’t falling. Seeing it all on paper, often helps us realize we aren’t in as deep as we thought. Other times, we aren’t so lucky. For those other times, keep reading.

3. Sort each problem according to when it has to be done.

This is the toughest step for most people. When you feel overwhelmed, it’s usually because you feel like everything has to be done right now. This is rarely the case. For each item on your list, honestly ask yourself:

a) What’s the worst thing that would happen if I ignored this problem?

If you can live with the answer, cross it off your list, and move on. Period. Don’t get overwhelmed with “shoulds” or self-imagined responsibilities or perfectionism. If you can’t live with the answer, next ask:

b) Has this problem already been solved?

This one surprises people. But often times we worry about things that have already been handled. For these problems, all we need is to acknowledge the solution so our brains can stop worrying. If this isn’t the case, next ask:

c) Will this problem be solved with time?

Sometimes we identify solutions, but they take time to bring about. Other times, problems can’t be solved until something else occurs. In both cases, it’s very easy to worry about something that can’t be acted on immediately. If it will be solved with time and it’s an acceptable time-frame, cross it off your list.

If the time-frame is not acceptable, split the problem up: the long-term problem will be solved with time, cross it off the list. Address the short-term problem only.

For example, suppose you need a place to live. You’ve found the perfect apartment but it’s not available for 30 days. You need somewhere to sleep tonight. You’ve solved the problem of where to live for the long-term, but now you have a new problem: where to live in the short-term?

This is a simple example, but now imagine your problem is you need “x” today. But it takes 6 weeks to build “x”. Once you start building “x”, this problem becomes a problem that will be solved in time. However, you might have a new problem: How to deal with not having “x” for 6 weeks. Fortunately, many solutions that are unacceptable in the long-term are perfectly adequate in the short-term. Don’t confuse your short-term problems with your long-term problems.

At this point, if your list is still overwhelming, next ask:

d) Can I solve this problem tomorrow, next week, or next month (in other words, later)?

This is another tough one to answer honestly. You are feeling overwhelmed because you think you need to sovle it right now. But ask yourself, what will happen if I wait a day, a week, a month? If you can live with the answer, mark it for later.

4. Take Action

The only things that should be left on your list are real emergencies. The only thing you can do with these is take action. In true GTD fashion, identify the first step and do it. If it’s still too much, find someone to help you out. Get creative. But do something. The sky isn’t going to stop falling until you start picking up the pieces.

Some times the hardest thing is knowing when to slow down. These past two weeks at work were hectic. We were trying to close out our Q4 goals, prepare for a board meeting, wrap up our 2008 planning, wrap up our product development for the year and on top of all that I had a new employee start. I had more meetings than I could possibly attend, not to mention more work than could possibly be done. Most of the time, when I’m in this situation, I take a step back and look at what I absolutely must do, prioritize around those, and ignore the rest. It’s the only way I keep my sanity. But this time, nothing could be cut from the list. So my only option was to put my nose to the grind stone and crank through the work.

As the week came to a close and things started to wrap up at work, I started to feel more overwhelmed instead of relieved. It took me a little while to figure out why. I had a flight scheduled for Friday afternoon to fly home for the holidays. This left me no down time between my crazy work week and the beginning of my holiday festivities. I knew this was a recipe for disaster.

Instead of battling holiday travelers, the discomforts of sleeping in other people’s homes and the chaos of large family holidays, I decided to delay my trip for a couple of days to allow myself some much needed down time. I moved my flight to Monday morning, giving me 2 days of rest. 24 hours in, I’m feeling excited for the holidays instead of dread. Sometimes knowing when to slow down is all you need.