Your Best Work is the Work You Are Proud Of

Make it good enough

You’ve probably heard this before, but it’s worth repeating: your work is a reflection of who you are.

That said, being proud of your work means different things to different people. Generally, it’s the kind of work you can look back on and feel satisfied with the outcome. For some, that might be the first iteration of a product they’ve poured six months into and finally shipped. For others, especially those with a higher design standard, pride may come with the second iteration, once the rough edges are smoothed out and the user experience has been meaningfully improved.

For me, it’s usually the point where I’m no longer embarrassed by the end-user experience. That moment tends to fall after the initial release but before a major second version. Is it perfect? No. But it’s good enough that I feel confident moving on to the next thing.

Knowing this, it’s important to align on what “good enough” actually means for your team. As a leader, I’ve made the mistake of encouraging teams to be proud of version one without clarifying what that should look like. When a team hears that message, it becomes highly personal and can easily lead to misaligned expectations. Don’t let that happen. Be explicit that “being proud” may look different for different stakeholders, and that it may happen at different points for each of them.

It may also mean that not everyone reaches a version they are personally proud of, and that’s simply a reality of software development. Be transparent that the goal isn’t personal pride. The goal is giving end users something tangible that is meaningfully better than what they had before.

That’s why it’s vital to clearly define what “good enough” means for your team. For the teams I’ve led, it’s usually the point where the product is truly sellable and the roughest edges have been polished. It has the core features customers need to accomplish their goals. It won’t include every feature they asked for, but it will still be a clear improvement over what existed before.