We’ve all seen pictures like this. In fact, I love how some like to point out their “unique ability” to find more than the listed 3 differences or 3 changes. What is the underlying premise they are bragging on? What’s the thing that people who enjoy examining these types of pictures have in common? They like to be detail oriented.
The detail oriented person has several advantages and benefits.
First, the individual focused on the details is more likely to put together a polished product. They’ll be paying attention to the little details which make their product amazing and stand apart from the rest. Secondly, taking the time to make sure every detail is correct means you probably are a bit of a perfectionist. You’re focused on providing the ultimate experience to the end user and have the goal of creating a product which works exactly as it is expected to work. Third, if you pay obsessive attention to the little things means you are more than likely interested in continual improvements and upgrades which will make your product a perfect fit your target audience. So there’s three ways in which paying attention to detail is beneficial to a company and a product. But unfortunately it’s not always a positive.
The detail oriented person must be careful to not fall into any of these common traps.
If you are too focused on the details you can miss the big picture. You’ll be so consumed with the minor details you will fail to see large scale problems which you need to prioritize first. Secondly, the detail oriented person can sometimes be accused of never releasing because they are forever tweaking the product. The perfectionist in them refuses to let them release something they are not 110% satisfied with. While there is a time and a place for corrections and improvements it can also keep you from ever releasing anything if you’re never satisfied. Lastly focusing on continual improvements and upgrades can lead to scope creep. The desire to completely satisfy every need and every potential use case can lead to adding so many features to a product that you lose your focus and the core problems you set out to solve. It’s not always the final answer to be detail oriented. In fact it looks a bit like you have to balance on each of the above points between being too focused on the details and not being focused enough.
Personal Confession
I guess this is personal confession time. I tend to be guilty of being incredibly detail oriented and focused. I look for the little things which will make the user experience incredible and pixel perfect. Yes, I do mean pixel perfect. This kind of thing is unacceptable:
Detail Takes Time
The problem is the time it takes to be that detail oriented. I won’t share the amount of time I spend on fixes like this and others. I believe they have to be right and they have to be pixel perfect. I won’t apologize for it but I will say I have to keep an eye on my time involved and make sure I don’t become a victim of the above failures. I know I’m definitely different but don’t believe I’m alone. I believe there are many people similar to me (or at least I hope there are).
I want to leave you with one question - How detail oriented are you? Should you be more focused on the pixel perfect minutia which will make your product pop? Or maybe you should be a little more relaxed and make sure you actually ship a product? Wherever you are in the spectrum I’d encourage you to stop and think about it. Make sure you’re still making progress towards your goals. Don’t get stuck never releasing a product and don’t sacrifice your product for a release date. Think. Act. Succeed. Remember, we’re all in this together!