This is a reply to the commentary made on BusinessWeek entitled: Why “Good Enough” Is Good Enough.

In this short articles the author defends that imperfect technologies and unreliabilities can spur innovation. Two examples are included to support the point. The first is Skype, a service that change the telephony industry, but went off-line for two days in August showing its potential unreliability. The second example is Google, which uses old computer to keep users’ data; old computers that “die” all the time and need back-up.

I think the expression “Good Enough” is very dangerous here. To me the two example cited are totally different in nature. Skype outage is a disruption of service and is not acceptable from a customer’s point of view. Google’s use of old computer is an innovative solution that allows it to save money, while not interfering with customers’ experience. In the first case, it is true that Skype delivers a good service and brings value, but this does not excuse the fact that they went dark for two days. Service reliability is key, especially when you target business users, who cannot afford to use unreliable phone services.

As basic customer experience states, each element of the customer experience “multiplies” itself with the next (”Clued In” from Lewis Carbone). The result is that if one element delivers a bad experience (equals to zero), then the whole experience is negative. Customers should not be forced to live with below average reliability only because a company delivers an added-value service.

We all know that perfection does not exist, but aiming for it, will always help delivering better experience, products or services. And as these solutions will not be perfect, then there will still be innovation opportunities. Imagine a product development manager telling his team, now please design me a “Good Enough” product… Would that make sense? Would that motivate people? What would be the end result? Surely the end result would be a “Not Good Enough” product.

My take on this… just ban the “Good Enough” expression. If we look at China right now. For quite a few years, Chinese people have been encouraged to design and produce “Good Enough” products; “Good Enough” to be sold cheap. And now we realize that the standards of these products are… well, “Not Good Enough”, as they are unsafe, can explode, can poison people, etc. Still, these products are sold all over the world. Are they “Good Enough” because they deliver value (being cheaper)?

[digg=http://digg.com/business_finance/BusinessWeek_Why_Good_Enough_Is_Good_Enough]Personally, I don’t want to live in a “Good Enough” world. I prefer to live in a “Aiming for Perfection” world, even though it is clear that perfection does not exist and that aiming for it not easy.