Perfection feels productive. But quite often, it is just expensive.
One of the biggest productivity challenges we have worked through at Round Square Marketing is learning to recognise the difference between doing a great job and simply spending more time on something.
We understand where perfectionism comes from. People care. They have high standards. They want the work leaving their desk to be right. These are qualities we value enormously in our team at Round Square Marketing.
But there is a point where care turns into overthinking. A task that should take 15 minutes becomes an hour and 15 minutes. A piece of work goes through another round of changes when it was probably ready 45 minutes ago.
On its own, that does not seem particularly significant.
Multiply it across a team, multiple clients and an entire month, and suddenly perfectionism is not just consuming time. It is affecting capacity, momentum and the bottom line.
When does high quality become perfectionism?
This is the important distinction.
High standards are not the problem. We are certainly not suggesting businesses lower them or accept mediocre work. That is not how we operate, and it is not what our clients expect from us.
The question is whether the additional time being invested is still improving the outcome.
Sometimes it absolutely is.
If we are developing a major strategy, preparing a government tender, launching a new brand or checking a significant campaign budget, another review can be incredibly valuable. The consequences justify the scrutiny.
But does a routine social post need six rounds of internal changes? Does an email need another 30 minutes because we are debating one sentence? Does an internal document need to look like an award submission?
Probably not.
The challenge is that the difference between quality and perfectionism is not always obvious while you are doing the work.
A question we have become much more conscious of at RSM is:
Will the extra time meaningfully improve the outcome?
If the answer is yes, keep going.
If we cannot explain what another 30 minutes is going to achieve, it might be time to move.
The 15-minute task that takes 75 minutes
This is where perfectionism becomes a commercial issue.
Imagine something has been scoped as a 15-minute task.
The first version is done. Then it is reread. A few words are changed. Another example is researched. Someone else is asked for an opinion. That creates another change. The original version is reconsidered.
Before you know it, 75 minutes have passed.
The final product may well be better.
But is it 60 minutes better?
That is the question.
In a service business, time is one of our most important resources. If we spend an additional hour somewhere, that hour has to come from somewhere else.
Another client. Business development. Strategy. Training. Planning. Or simply the team’s remaining capacity.
This is one reason we believe time tracking is about much more than monitoring billable hours. Used properly, it can expose where a business is putting disproportionate effort into work that does not necessarily warrant it.
Being busy and being productive are not the same thing.
Perfectionism can delay the bigger things too
This behaviour is not limited to everyday tasks.
It shows up in much bigger business decisions.
The service you have not launched because you are still refining the offer.
The campaign you are still “getting ready”.
The new website that needs just a few more changes.
The process that has been sitting in draft for six months.
The idea that has been discussed in five meetings but still has not been put in front of a customer.
There comes a point where more thinking does not necessarily reduce the risk. It just delays the opportunity to learn.
Marketing is a perfect example.
We can strategise, research and plan extensively, and we should. But ultimately, the market gets a vote.
Sometimes the only way to know whether an idea will work is to put it out there.
Launch the campaign. Test the message. Look at the data. Listen to the response. Then make it better.
Real-world feedback can tell you more than another week of internal tweaking ever will.
A simple test before you keep polishing
We have found it useful to bring the decision back to three questions:
1. What happens if this is not perfect?
Consider the actual level of risk. A tender submission and an Instagram caption should not receive the same level of scrutiny.
2. Will another round materially improve the outcome?
Be specific. If you can identify what needs improving and why it matters, invest the time.
3. Is the extra time proportionate to the value of the task?
An additional two hours on a major strategic document might be an excellent investment. The same two hours spent tweaking a low-risk piece of content probably is not.
This is not about rushing work.
It is about applying the right amount of attention to the right things.
Progress over perfection requires judgement
“Progress over perfection” can easily become one of those business clichés that sounds good on a coffee mug.
Used badly, it can become an excuse for mediocre work.
That is not what we are advocating.
The real skill is knowing when the work has achieved what it was created to do.
That requires experience, good judgement and confidence in your team.
It also requires leaders to give people permission to finish.
Quite often, the people who overwork things are the people who care the most. They want the client to be happy. They take pride in what they produce. They do not want to make mistakes.
We do not want to remove that instinct from our team.
We want to pair it with commercial judgement.
Because business is not black and white. There are plenty of shades of grey, and occasionally a bit of red, blue and green thrown in for good measure.
Plans move. Markets change. Clients change. Technology changes. We learn and adapt.
The goal is not to create something that will never need changing.
It is to create something strong enough to achieve the objective, get it into the real world and use what happens next to make the next version better.
High standards matter.
But so do capacity, momentum and output.
Perfection keeps you polishing. Progress gives you something to learn from.
Lauren Hope
Director
Round Square Marketing
