Keeping it simple: when "good enough" is best

By Michael McCauley An interesting article by Robert Capps,  “The Good Enough Revolution”  explores the ways in which what consumers want from products and services is changing:  buyers now favor flexibility over high fidelity, convenience over features, and quick and easy over slow and polished. In fact, their very definition of “quality” is changing! Capps sites examples such as the decrease in CD sales and the explosion of MP3 downloads, the increase in Skype usage (Skype now accounts for 8% of all international calling minutes) and the huge increase in the use of Hulu over standard TV. All of these growing alternatives have much lower quality and significant limitations over the old standards, yet they continue to grow. Why? Because they are all quick to access, easy to use and free or virtually free. They are good enough. Is this phenomenon localized to consumer electronics alone? The answer is “no.” “Good enough” is also gaining traction in the legal and health care professions, and in the military. We have also seen consumers in the consulting and training world also begin to adopt this approach. Our wisdom discovery sessions have gained popularity partly because they enable organizations to develop best practices in less than one week, where a traditional consulting approach might take a month or more. Often, keeping it simple equals “good enough,” which is fine. Maybe you’ve run into this approach in other areas. If so, we would love to hear from you. In your experience, when is good enough ok?]]>