7The Pursuit of Product Perfection
Perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.
—VINCE LOMBARDI
The pursuit of perfection has captured the human imagination for thousands of years. It is a driving force of our better selves. From the beginning of recorded history, we have debated what it is and how we can achieve it. We like Aristotle’s view in that it is not a target level of achievement, but rather a way of being: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” This mentality still separates exceptional organizations and individuals from “wannabes” today.
In Lean Thinking, James Womack and Dan Jones wrote that the “pursuit of perfection” is a fundamental tenet of lean thinking ...
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