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That sounds like a beautiful example of letting perfect be the enemy of good. Just like your design choices have trade-offs, is it important to realize that th
by lucumo 5y ago
That sounds like a beautiful example of letting perfect be the enemy of good.
Just like your design choices have trade-offs, is it important to realize that there's a trade-off between finishing sooner and making a better solution. Diminishing returns are usually very much in play with analysis.
(I would also challenge the notion that every situation has a different "best practice". That's just creating a solution. "Best practices" are usually general advise that is applicable in most situations.)
- asdff 5y agoYou shouldn't take forever, but what I'm saying is a best practice emerges after doing however much due diligence. Maybe you spend an hour looking into it and that's it, but you should do your due diligence to vet what sort of approaches you can take to solve your particular problem as best you can, so you can make the best decision based on the evidence you've been able to find within however much time you are working with. A professor gave me a word of advice once, "a week in a library can save a month in the lab."
- lucumo 5y agoMost decisions don't require that much thought. They're low stakes and can easily be changed. To build on the professor's metaphor: don't spend a week in the library in it'll only save you a day. If it's a bit more important, do a quick Google, but only break out Excel for the comparison tables if the decision is life-changing. Honestly, the most important thing that professors don't teach and real life does is that sometimes the optimal thing to do is to not do the optimal thing.