On Being Useful, Part II

Posted by Robert Merrill on September 18, 2008 under Concepts | Read the First Comment

I’m a recovering perfectionist, and it’s not by choice.

I started out a great student, became a pretty good scientist, and was then a good software developer.

Now I’m a software management consultant and aspiring bioinformatician. I don’t have to network much (and I’m a mediocre networker on my good days) to meet people who have better training and more relevant experience than me. On paper, I don’t stand a chance, and sometimes that really gets me down.

Then I remember two things.

First, prospective clients aren’t choosing between me and perfection. They’re choosing between resources they already have, me, and whoever else they know about.

Second, I don’t have to be perfect, or even the best option, in order to be useful. What’s more, I’m more confident of my usefulness to clients than ever, because now no one else is placing me. If I’m not sure I can be useful, I don’t write a proposal. So far, I’ve always been useful. Every time.

If any clients are reading this, please tell me otherwise. But if I did have a client who found me useless, I doubt s/he is reading my blog.

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  • rwfowler said,

    Robert,

    I think you’re on the right track. I’d take it one step further in saying that perfection doesn’t even really exist in that sense. You can get a 100% on an exam in school and that can be considered perfection. But organizational success depends on having a bunch of people with different skills, knowledge, experience, temperaments and tendencies working together productively. Of course I compare my options when selecting someone to help me with something, but I don’t use a spreadsheet to determine the mathematically best applicant. I use my best attempt at judgment to figure out who’s going to help us along the most.

    Ryan

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