This month, I prompted bloggers to discuss whether good enough is perfect. Thank you to all who posted on this topic!
Here are the highlights of the posts (in alphabetical order by last name):
Chad Callihan – In his post, Chad talks about stepping away: “Sometimes, the best way to make progress on what you’re trying to perfect is to walk away for a bit. Rather than grinding it out hunched over in your chair and putting yourself in physical pain to go with the mental stress, get up and take a walk.” He also discusses considering quality over quantity: “I would take completing two successful projects over one perfect project.” Finally, he talks about perfection being an illusion. Isn’t that the truth?
Kevin Chant—In his post, Kevin discusses delegation: “Just because you have a 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.” He also talks about how “Good enough to be perfect can depend on the situation.” I completely agree! You need to tailor your approach for each situation. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all.
Rob Farley – In his post, Rob talks about good enough is good enough. I love this analogy about the query optimizer. “The idea is that it finds a valid plan and then repeatedly takes some time to find a better one, until it either thinks “this will do“ (GoodEnoughPlanFound) or “I guess I can’t find something better“ (Timeout).” It’s a great analogy to me, for good enough is perfect because you might not want to settle on the first thing you find, but you probably don’t want to spend A LOT more time perfecting it.
Also, I love this quote:
And Rob’s sentiments around it: “The world has changed a lot in that time, and perhaps some of the French philosopher’s teachings should be revisited again around the world. Who knows what the next 15 years will hold, and whether we’ll be optimistic, pessimistic, nostalgic, or something else. Whatever it is, let’s be pragmatic and make good choices with wherever we’re at.”
Hugo Kornelis – In his post, Hugo says good is good enough, but he also has his “love babies.” As he says, “Things that are very close to my heart. My blog is one of those, and I really put in a lot of effort to make sure that there are no mistakes in my posts – and yes, I know that despite all that effort, it still happens from time to time. But I try!” That expression “love babies” is very cool — I might have to adopt this phrase from time to time.
One of his “love babies” includes his SQL Server Execution Plan Reference. In this free resource, he describes “every operator you can find in an execution plan in minute detail, sharing everything you might want to know about it (and probably even some things you would rather not have known).” He ends with: “Perfect is the enemy of good enough. But sometimes, good enough can also be the enemy of perfect.” I completely agree!
Please comment on this post if I missed anyone, and I’ll add you. Thanks again to all who posted!
The post T-SQL Tuesday #180: Good enough is perfect Roundup appeared first on sqlkitty.