In a general fashion, people find it easy to be devoted to becoming better. There always is one or the other thing they can do better and find nice to pay attention to. It’s almost “learning-to-go.” Things people pick up here and there. These often become one detail after the other that can be perfected. It’s a continuous learning curve that can feel good as it opens the road toward perfection.

It’s a change that happens within our system of knowledge and experience. It keeps it working as is.

The equivalent in product development would be to constantly add features or adapt features of a product.

A different type of change is one that is less accessible. It is one where something that might have bugged someone for years suddenly starts to feel uncomfortable to that person. Uncomfortable in the sense that the person realizes the discomfort and wants to change it. It’s a conscious step of acknowledging the discomfort and making a decision to change it. It’s a moment where there is clarity about the change desired and where the decision to change comes without the option to go back to the previous state. It doesn’t lead to an instant change or solution. It’s just that the road has become clear.

The equivalent in product development is some kind of innovation. It can be to suddenly see what new product is needed. It can also be to move towards a clear simplification of the available features that make the purpose of the product evident.

And sometimes it is necessary to start with perfecting the system until perfecting it further requires more energy than reinventing it.