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The Battle Between Shipping and Perfection: A Designer’s Dilemma
Designers, let’s talk about an uncomfortable truth. For many of us, the joy of our craft lies in creating work that is not just functional but exceptional. We love unearthing hidden user insights through research, challenging assumptions, and asking the kinds of questions that lead to elegant, transformative solutions. To us, this feels like the very essence of design: solving the problem in the best way possible. But here’s the rub…
In large organisations, the goal isn’t always to deliver the best thing. It’s often just to deliver something -something that works well enough to ship.
To be fair, this isn’t because stakeholders don’t value quality. It’s because the real challenge in these organisations isn’t perfection-it’s inertia. Projects in big companies are like heavy cargo ships in a busy harbour: it takes immense effort to get them moving, and once they’re underway, steering them in a new direction is slow and difficult. The focus is often on keeping things on course, not necessarily optimising for the best outcome.
Why Perfection Gets Lost in the Shuffle
Let’s zoom out for a moment. In big companies, shipping is not just a step in the process; it’s an Olympic-level feat. Every project competes for attention and resources…