Time vs Quality: Because Breathing Ain’t Necessarily Living
Friday, April 18th, 20081810 - 1913
When someone dies, the usual inscription on the tombstone is the year of birth and the year of death, separated by a dash, along with an epitaph in memoriam.
The initial reaction is to do the math, and figure out how old she was when she died (shameless you!).
What’s interesting about the whole thing is how much we concentrate on how long she lived, when at the end of the day, it’s the dash in the middle that defines what we remember.
JFK is a favorite of very many people. Nixon, however, is a different story because it’s what they did that we remember, and cherish (or detest).
Everyone wants a great website. And why not? If you’re really worth your mettle, and treasure your audience, you should make the effort to have a good website.
The problem is not wanting a great website. It’s the “I want it now!” paradigm that kills the potential for greatness. It’s too easy to give in to the temptation to rush a project so that “we can get it over with.” As a result, revisions are often rushed, features are cut down, etc…, all in an effort to bring the project completion schedule as close to 5 minutes as possible.
In the process, the end-users are forgotten, there are holes in the features, and somehow the message gets lost in all the noise.
The use of time, in and of itself, is nothing unless value is being delivered. Like life, it’s the quality of the time spent that determines the level of success (or failure) that’s achieved.
Design projects are tasking endeavors that take time, and significant effort. You shouldn’t decide to get a website “because everyone else has one”, then relegate it to “side project” status, and expect to get a website you’re going to be truly proud of.
How about this for a new way of thinking: it’s the quality of time spent on the project, not the quantity, that matters.
