Ship It!

I recently read Tina Fey’s Bossypants. Not only is it deeply funny - Fey is one of the funniest writers alive - but there are also a few nuggets of wisdom in there, bits of advice for aspiring comedians and writers. One of them is something that Lorne Michaels said about Saturday Night Live. I’m probably butchering the exact quote, but it was something like “The show (SNL) doesn’t go on because it’s ‘ready’, it goes on because it’s 11:30.”

Earlier this week I mentioned this line to Isaac Finnegan, who pointed out that this is a practical example of the saying “Perfect is the enemy of good.” An important subtlety here: this isn’t about delivering shoddy work or setting unachievable deadlines. The point is to work within your constraints (time, human imperfection), make it as good as you can (and no better), and then Ship It.

Note: This post probably would’ve been longer, but…well…it’s 11:30.