Is B+ Good Enough?

With all respect to a former boss of mine, I distinctly remember sitting in his office and him telling me that "B+ was good enough." I'm afraid that I don't agree.

And for our viewers at home, there is something you should know. I have an eidetic memory. Specifically in my case I can recount a conversation, pretty much word for word, from just about anytime in my past. I see it like a movie script in my head. The last 20 years or so are pretty complete... the last few years always being the most fresh in my head... 20 years... somewhere just after college... wonder why?

Now the formal definition is "Eidetic memory, or photographic memory, is the ability to recall images, sounds, or objects in memory with extreme accuracy and in abundant volume." I think just about anyone who knows me and has heard me recount a story or conversation will... at the same time... agree and cringe at the abundant volume part. But I'm not perfect... names, dates, places, phone numbers... not so good. But that is why we have iPhones right?

Hey... Its a skill.. and I use it.

So, back to this conversation with my former boss. I was the IT Administrator back in the day and he was the Director of IT. I worked for him... it was a really small shop. I was sitting in front of his desk, he behind, and it was sunny out his window. Basically I was saying something along the lines that I was still working on a project until I had it right, then we got to talking about is right or perfect really necessary in our business, and poof... out pops "B+ is good enough". There may have been a qualifier before that... sometimes, most times, almost always, occasionally, etc. ... but that part faded away from this 12 year old conversation and the last part stuck fast.

So lets explore this...

I mean seriously... I know I am not performing brain surgery or sending heroes into space... since obviously B+ is not good enough for any of those jobs. But in my day to day role now, I deal in project delivery, project management, revenue, customer expectations, and personnel management. And not small projects... projects totaling well over 7 figures a year (not that I make 7 figures a year... but hey... one can dream).

Is B+ good enough?

Is close on my region's financials good enough? Or I could be asking is close on my personal financials good enough (Hell no!). So why would I do any less with numbers many orders of magnitudes larger than I would with my own checking account? I know without a doubt that my executives watch numbers and certainly call me on changes... so I better have answers and be able to back up what I have presented. And I believe the best way to satisfy the business is to get it right the first time. What if I produces numbers with mistakes and my executives made decisions on those. I see it as putting my company in jeopardy to let mistakes flow by, which in turn puts my paycheck in jeopardy, which messes with my checking account. Cause and effect.

As for my customers, is most of the way to the goal good enough for them? Key the sarcasm... "Hey... I got that project done pretty close to the date you said we had to do it by... I was only a little late... ain't that great? And I got most of the stuff working... pretty well... but I'm sure that is ok for you, right?" How long do you think we could stay in business operating like that... and poof... there goes my checking account again.

I think you get the point... which is not my checking account is my life... but instead that our actions have consequences. A lesson my boys have been learning recently. You do a bad job on your little part of the puzzle and the whole thing could fall apart... or someone else picks up your slack... and that isn't any fun for anyone either... and now they are not doing their job because they are doing yours... so everyone looses.

Back to putting people into space... Check out episode five called Spider in the miniseries From the Earth to the Moon. Go to the scene with the broken landing gear on the lunar lander... and then to the moment that they figure out why it broke. One little error... watch it for yourself... I use that miniseries to teach all kinds of good lessons to my boys.

Now back to consulting... it may not be brain surgery, but:

• To the customers we are performing it for, its critical we get it right, because their business depends on it (or I like to think they wouldn't have gone to the effort of hiring us in the first place).
  


• To my executives who have established revenue targets for us to hit, which feed those for the company as a whole, its critical we are as accurate and correct as humanly possible.
  


• To my personnel who I manage, coach, guide, and at the same time learn from, its critical I don't make a mistake, since they may not get a paycheck, a review, a raise, a bonus, an expense payment, a project deliverable, or something else critical to them, their job, and eventually to their family.

So really... is B+ good enough?

--
As always archives and originals of this blog, as well as the ability to comment can be found at Random Amateur.