The Day I Learned “Good Enough” Is Sometimes Perfect
Why chasing flawless work can quietly destroy creative momentum - and what I learned fighting for “done” over “perfect.”
When I was Head of Production at a creative agency, one of my unofficial job titles was Chief Defender of “Good Enough”.
Our leadership team had a bad habit: every internal review turned into a feedback marathon. Ten, sometimes fifteen rounds of revisions… before the client ever saw a single cut.
We’d spend weeks tweaking transitions, rewording headlines, nudging color tones, and massaging sound design… for ourselves.
Then we’d finally send the video to the client, and they’d come back with a completely different direction.
Every. Time.
It was like building a sandcastle at high tide.
The Myth of the Perfect Version
At first, I fought to make the best version possible. I wanted to prove the creative team could make flawless work. But the longer I led projects, the clearer it became:
“Perfect” isn’t what clients pay for. “Perfect” is what creatives chase to feel safe.
The truth is, you can’t outthink your client. You can’t anticipate every reaction, every stakeholder’s taste, or every pivot they’ll make when the CEO weighs in.
So instead of spending days polishing the unknown, I started pushing the team to ship faster - to get real feedback, not hypothetical opinions.
Because momentum always beats precision.
How “Good Enough” Became My Best Tool
When I stopped trying to make every deliverable bulletproof before sharing it, three things happened:
Clients felt involved, not surprised. Early drafts created collaboration instead of confrontation.
Our team got faster - and calmer. We stopped wasting creative energy on invisible polish.
The final product got better. Because it evolved with real-world input, not internal echo chambers.
“Good enough” didn’t mean lazy - it meant intentional. It meant understanding that clarity beats perfection.
📽️ The Filmmaker’s Lesson
It’s the same in production. You can light a scene endlessly. You can obsess over takes. But filmmaking - and creative work in general - is about knowing when the magic is already there.
The best directors, editors, and producers all develop the same instinct:
They know when to stop.
🛠 Tool Spotlight:
Frame.io — A collaboration platform that eliminates endless internal revision chains. It lets your team and clients give timestamped feedback in one place - so you spend less time guessing and more time creating.
(Most people use it for client delivery, but using it for internal feedback first is where it really shines.)
📈 Why It Matters
Creative teams that chase “perfect” burn out. Teams that chase “progress” build momentum - and momentum compounds.
Because sometimes “good enough” is perfect. It’s just waiting for you to have the courage to call it done.
Stay in it,
Alex