My way of doing a task

My perception of perfection...

Do your work so well, that the Living, the Dead and the Unborn could do it no better!

Well, this is the way I like to work. I prefer doing things the way I want them to be done. But there are times when you cannot have your way, and for good reasons.

I don't like doing a task with output anything short of perfection. There should be no need of any rework. But at times under unearthly time frames, you are forced to do sub-standard work. At times people expect you finish it off as soon as possible so that technically he can assign you something else. But only I know that I've to keep perfecting it, for even people don't like to use anything less than perfect. There are numerous situations under which you are compelled to compromise on quality. This is major source of contention, discontent, distress and frustration; at least for me. And this is typical of American style: Get it out first, we will then patch up if it fails to meet someone's standards. I prefer the Japanese style: Do it bloody right the first time. If you have read Akio Morita's Made in Japan, used Sony products, or for that matter any Japanese electronics/machinery, you will understand what I'm talking about. There's a marked difference in finish of a product made by Japanese and those made by Americans. Both have their pros and cons. Not that I always detest this style of working, at times time-to-market is very important. Just that it starkly contrasts my paradigm of hitting nail right on head the first time.

While a good source of confidence, this predisposed characteristics of mine is also a major source of PITA. When you buy a product, take it for repairs, or getting a service from someone, your expectations are too high, and more often than usual, too high for the ability of the person doing job for you. Everything you get (material and non-material gains) should be just plainly perfect. Anything short of perfection causes resentment. More maturity lies in discerning where and when to expect perfection, esp. while dealing with human nature. For, as Akio Morita has said:

You can be totally rational with a machine. But if you work with people, logic often has to take a backseat to understanding.

Are my expectations too high, am I into wrong field, am I being too ambitious, I don't know myself. That's the way life is, at times it's fun with lot of unknowns!

On a different note, this post by Sunila might interest you: Perfection.