The "Good Enough" Revolution

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Barry_Green

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http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscellaneous/magazine/17-09/ff_goodenough?currentPage=1

That right there is a must-read, for anyone who wants to keep up on trends, company futures, etc.

It basically reiterates all the things I've been feeling and thinking about quality, convenience, price, the 80/20 rule, etc., but does so in a nicely-stated cohesive manner. It explains why (much to content creators' chagrin) YouTube has exploded into a universal-access delivery system, and blu-ray is a dead fish. How MP3 killed off SACD and DVD-Audio. Why the BBC can sit back and say "a 5D Mark II doesn't meet broadcast specifications" but simultaneously CNN will be airing video-phone footage. Why Wal-Mart dominates the retailing industry. Why the 7D and GH1 will outsell the 5D Mark II by a huge margin. Why the Flip camcorder was such a massive hit. Why the Wii blew away the XBox and the PS3 -- and the Wii isn't even HD! Why people who were dead-set on getting a Scarlet are now looking at the GH1 and 7D. Why dedicated Red users are paying so much attention to the 5D Mark II. Why the HPX300, at $7,000, is now the standard news camera at NBC and much of ABC. Why Hulu, Netbooks, and Skype are all viable and thriving businesses, even though Hulu's quality is way worse than watching TV, a netbook is a lousy laptop, and a skype phonecall pales in comparison to using the regular phone...

Simply put, we all have heard the phrase "You want it good, fast, and cheap? Pick two and call me back." What the article points out is that for the vast majority of consumers, they'll pick "fast and cheap", and they don't need "good". Traditional measures of quality just aren't that important anymore, as long as Good Enough is "good enough".
 
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Excellent. This is exactly why low budget, independent filmmaking is a good place to be right now. (It also answered a question that has been bugging me for years: Why is an MP3 acceptable to my advertising clients when less compressed, "better quality" formats are easily available to them.)
Thanks Barry.
 
Interesting article.

I've experienced younger people listening to stereo's and surround systems today thinking it sounded great. I had to look at them and say "you've never heard a good system".
And I mean systems that people in the 70's/early-80's used to take for granted and demanded.

That article pulls together why and what the current trends are and explains a few things about society's choices as we move forward.

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Nice read. Thanks.
 
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Although the writer's points are well-taken and his examples are spot-on, I think Good Enough is a notion that makes me very uncomfortable. It is seemingly changing quality's rubric. I suspect that it will invariably lead to individual pride in a job well done taking a back seat to contentment in speed and ease.

Good Enough may make more money; however, I don't foresee art museums showcasing good enough art.

It's largely McTechnology.
 
'The crapification of everything' was the standout phrase in the article, to me.

Well, when a tsunami of sh*t is bearing down upon you, there's not much to do but learn to surf.
 
Some interesting points. I thought the analogy to music and mp3's was particularly prescient. When the CD came out it incorporated a number of changes. Hence, assumptions were made about what the important change was, and usually the focus was on the sound quality. But the real improvement over cassettes was the convenience of continued and repeat play and not having to rewind to find what you wanted. And it did that with a minimal learning curve.

The video parallel was the same. For every videophile who upgraded to DVD for picture quality, there were 5 (or maybe 50) who did so for a more convenient format that offered simple features that VHS never could. BluRay doesn't have that advantage. It's an expensive, evolutionary step that will be undertaken by the few, not the many. Because DVDs are good enough for most of us.

I like how the article draws parallels to healthcare and combat aircraft. But the most obvious parallel is fast food. It is an industry that has not only lowered our expectations about what food should be, it has changed our eating, buying, manufacturing and shipping industries. Why? because a Big Mac is tasty? Nutritious? No. Because it's convenient and it is good enough.

But, unlike fast food, I believe this can be a good thing. (Okay, fast food can be good...I am a sucker for a Double Del and some chili cheese fries...) Anyway, what this does yet again is put the focus back on CONTENT. It democratizes our endeavors, while making us feel like we are not nearly as important as we used to be. Because, after all, if our clients can by a Flip and an iMac, what do they need us for? The answer, of course is skill and experience, but this isn't the place to talk about that.

Did CinemaScope, Technicolor and VistaVision give audiences something they couldn't get on their TV's? Yep. Did people go see them? Yep. Did it stop, or even slow down the proliferation of TV's? Not even a little. Why? Because it was good enough and you could watch in your underwear with a can of Schaeffer balanced on your belly.

I just left a meeting with a client. We are putting the finishing touches on a fundraising/information video for them. We wanted to work in some more emotional clips, the kind of stuff we hadn't gotten from our well lit, well shot interviews that have great audio. The client pulled up some crappy-looking, tinny-sounding clips of some parents explaining the huge impact this foundation has had on them. Pure gold. I'll do what I can to fix up the quality, but it ain't gonna get much better. And that's okay. It's good enough, because it's not about the medium (sorry M.M.), it's about the message.
 
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Sometimes the advancement of one technology makes or maintains the good-enough-ness of another.

For example, my blu-ray player upconverts well enough that some - some - DVDs are indistinguishable from Blu-Rays, even on a relatively large screen.
 
I think the good enough revolution applies much more to distribution mediums than it does content creation.

Granted, we are seeing it happening in the content creation arena with the cheaper vdslr's on the market... limited features and functions, but good enough picture quality and bang up pricing. But, I think the current vdslr trend is more a stop gap than something that will be the norm. Not to say that vdslr's are going away. Not what I mean... Just that the cheap, lacking traditionally standard professional features and functionality versions of them are a stop gap. Prices will continue to drop as they always have, but I think we'll have to see a step back towarrds incorporating features that will eventually be missed. Technology will catch up with the pricing... or... something will come along that offers the appeal of the vdslr's, but with the addition of the missing (once standard features) and at higher quality. There will be an additional price for that, but folks will recognize what they've been living without that they used to require.

So, either pricing will catch up with technology, or technology will catch up with pricing. Main point being... folks looking to create something from an artistic (and not solely just a business) point of view don't settle for a "good enough" take, or lighting setup, etc. And, likewise, they will want the best tools they can *for their money* to keep their creative options as free as possible.

My opinion anyways.

later,
Jason
 
> The Good Enough revolution has only just begun.

Cars restyled every year but having major KNOWN mechanical flaws left unfixed? Effectively disposable appliances because no one knows how to fix them and buying a new one is simpler and cheaper? Paper cups? Plastic spoons? Cameras with buggy firmware that no one cares to update?

Maybe it "has only just begun" in the Universal timeframe, but definitely not in human one. "Disposable" and "good enough" are the watermarks of the American consumer culture for at least half a century.

Sad Max said:
When a tsunami of sh*t is bearing down upon you, there's not much to do but learn to surf.
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A good one.
 
I think we are talking about two different things here:

Good Enough 1: Shoddy craftsmanship, poor customer service, the focus on short term gains.

Good Enough 2: Not making the assumption about what we think the consumer should want, and actually paying attention to what they are willing to pay for. Respecting the "why" in their purchase process enough to realize that all the things we think are good, may have little or no bearing to them.
 
Got us all thinking. Good Stuff.
I tend to get a little stingy and stupid with my "art". Am I makling anything that anyone wants to see though? Crap at hi-def is just well defined crap....
 
Of course, let's not forget who first exploited the "good enough" theory of business..McDonald's. What is McDonald's food but mediocre crap that's fast, cheap and just "good enough" to eat.
 
Batutta said:
Of course, let's not forget who first exploited the "good enough" theory of business..McDonald's. What is McDonald's food but mediocre crap that's fast, cheap and just "good enough" to eat.
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But remember that it's a matter of perspective. McDonalds is not about food. It is an efficient factory that happens to have food (or something close) as its final product. And, it's a business model that is much, MUCH more than good enough. The corporation (last I checked) made the bulk of its assets from real estate holdings. And they are very good at what they do.
 
McDonalds has perfected the balance between quality, consistency and perceived value. That is all there is to it.

I remember when AM/PM started selling hot dogs and hamburgers. On the one occassion I went to buy one, I was surprised to discover that both were green in color. Green enough that it kept me from trying either and out of AM/PM for any food that wasn't factory-wrapped in plastic or in a can or bottle.

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McDonalds is awesome! Best food ever after eating fillet mignon and lobster for 2 weeks straight. White Castle is right up there too!
 
Batutta said:
Of course, let's not forget who first exploited the "good enough" theory of business..McDonald's. What is McDonald's food but mediocre crap that's fast, cheap and just "good enough" to eat.
Click to expand...

I disagree. I love McDonalds double cheeseburgers at $1.50 ($CAN) odd apiece. They taste a hell of a lot better than my $1.00 homemade burgers. The 70 cent apple pies/turnovers are also tasty.

It's a good article anyways and worth the read for those who haven't yet.
 
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