Chris Morrell

“I’m not going to do [a] because I need to get [b] right first.”

I, like most people, am a master of procrastination.  I clean my desk, file my e-mail, make a few phone calls, write a blog entry, etc, just to avoid whatever it is I should be doing.  Recently I discovered a new*, and troubling form of procrastination: “getting it right.”

For the past few months I’ve been working on a major restructuring of one of InterNACHI’s core web systems.  Lately I’ve found myself not moving forward because I want to make sure the architecture is right, or I have some concerns about how certain decisions will affect search rankings, or I’m not sure if it will perform well, etc.  So instead of sitting down and finishing the project, I pull out a pad of paper and start outlining or graphing or whatever it is I convince myself I need to be doing.

Now that’s not to say that preparation isn’t important, but I’m starting to think that the agile guys got it right: build early and build often.  And I realize that this is nothing new.  Heck, nearly all of “web 2.0″ is built on the constant “beta” principal.  But I also know that as businesses grow, there’s a tendency to add unnecessary formality to otherwise simple things; at least I know that’s what we’ve done.  It’s almost like you get into this mentality of “this is how the big guys do it,” when it’s the little guys who are more compelling and innovative.

And on top of it all, “getting it right” is just a fiction.  There’s no such thing.  Today’s “right” is tomorrow’s “what was I thinking?”  I might as well get something “close” today, and “better” tomorrow.

So where is this post going?  I’m not really sure… I think I’m done, but I really don’t feel like getting back to work

So what do you guys think?  Am I the only one who procrastinates this way, or is this a common thing?

* By new, I mean newly identified.  I’ve been doing this for years.