The Challenges of Working with a Perfectionist

The Challenges of Working with a Perfectionist

If you’re a perfectionist, building an app is going to be a struggle. All kinds of challenges come up when dealing with this character trait. Perfectionist over analyze, find problems in every little detail, and time often gets the best of them.

Don’t get us wrong, perfectionism can come in handy at times in the workplace, but too much perfectionism will slowly kill you. You’re never going to launch in time! Fine combing through every spec of your project is time-consuming. Focus on the hand you were dealt. Pour your energy into making sure your core set of features are ready to launch in time. You can’t win without your MVP.

The impossible perfectionist never got the message that every piece of completed work will have some level of inherent, minor imperfection, even at deadline time. It could always be better, granted, but is it good enough to launch? More than likely, yes.

Perfectionists have a hard time with accepting that something can, in fact, be great, but not perfect. The great thing about apps is that you have customers, people who loooove to give feedback, and with those comments, you can go back to the drawing board and add to your MVP. Better yet, throw your product into Beta Launch and think of it as a soft opening for your app.

Perfectionism has its benefits, of course; it motivates over-achievers to pursue high standards and new visions. Perfectionists are driven to improve and innovate. They are disciplined and detail-oriented; both of which are critical in professions where there is no margin for error.

Even the great Steve Jobs frequently insisted that his team strive for perfection. But we’ve found that being too controlling, and overly focused on perfection can cloud your creativity. The time and neurosis required to make something “perfect” comes at the high cost of flexibility, responsiveness, creativity, and cooperation. Being a perfectionist is a sure way to let your app insecurities get the best of you.

We aren’t saying that it’s impossible to build an app if you are in any way a perfectionist, but it will come as a challenge. Precisionist enjoys stability and structure and although we provide that to our clients, it isn’t in the form that you are probably used to. Think about it, you are in the works of creating a new business – that’s what apps are, a business, a new endeavor – not a hobby. We know you perfectionists don’t like to show anything that’s unfinished in your eyes, but often times what seems to be unfinished is actually the best version of your product that’s ready to be shipped. If it’s not broken, iterate.

Robert Patrick

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Founder & Chief Architect Robert ("The One") started writing software at 12 years old, and founded PhD in the 1990′s at the age of 18. His philosophy is that working hard/playing hard, honesty and pursuing your true passion will lead to success and happiness.

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