I first learned about the 70% Solution from the awesome Jen of Get Bullish, a blog about hustling and gentlewomanly living that I wholeheartedly recommend.
The 70% Solution is a caution against aiming for perfection. This approach to making decisions recommends going with a 70% perfect (as opposed to 100%) solution, especially when time is of essence.
From the book, Corps Business: The 30 Management Principles of the U.S. Marines:
“Everyone is always looking for perfect truth. Even if you find it, the other guy is up to something. So by the time you execute it, your truth isn’t perfect anymore.
When time is of the essence, Marines act as soon as they have a plan with a good chance of working. Indecisiveness is worse than making a mediocre decision. A mediocre decision swiftly rendered and executed at least stands a chance.
If your decision-making loop is more streamlined than your enemy’s, then you set the pace and course of the battle.”
A very good reminder for folks who tend to dwell too much on making sure things are perfect before they are good to go (like me sometimes!). In work, for instance, I find that this principle helps me get things done faster, which is pretty important as I work in an agency. Agencies (particularly the creative kinds like mine) in general are very dynamic environments!
Try the 70% Solution for yourself!
