February 6, 2007
Sitting in a laptop lounge/Charlie Bean to be exact. Taking a day off. We’re sitting in a new retail center watching the guys make a mess outside. Just doing their job . . . which gives us a job. Scaffolding scattered along the brick pavers outside the building, a heavy-set construction worker rests on his laurels outside watching another climb a ladder. We didn’t clean this new store. It’s hard not to take a look around and run a mental punchlist. There’s sheetrock on the floor and the overhead ductwork and lighting were never dusted. It’s an attractive building and only the trained-eye would stutter at the small items. I won’t bore you with the details, but next time you go into a new facility look around (if you’re not already) and check out the tale-tale signs of a job well done or not-so-well-done. The corners. The sills. The door frames.
You can clean the mass and overlook the details and you haven’t delivered a finished product. The details are where it’s at. The small things matter and with the right “small things” you can walk into the room and “feel” the clean. If you’re going to do it you might as well do it right. One of my college professors said, “it takes more time to redo something than it does to do it right the first time.” We do make mistakes. But always strive for excellence, as opposed to perfection. Excellence is always possible, perfection is not always attainable. Excellence.
