# The Quality Trap By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2022-09-22 Often professionals want to do work of high quality. There is pride that can come from a job well done. Organizational realities frequently conspire to make producing high-quality work challenging, if not unnecessary and undesired. This is one of the unwritten rules new employees have difficulty unpacking. Workers can find themselves in the quality trap. As previously indicated, there is a natural tendency towards producing quality work. Tension emerges between workers and managers due to time. Quality work takes time. The speed of business is now. There is an inherent tension here. As one navigates this terrain, there are heuristics that can help. The Pareto Principle (i.e., the 80/20 rule) suggests that the 80% solution can be achieved with 20% of the effort. Certainly, this provides a basis for expectations. Obtaining an initial look at something is often achieved efficiently. An analyst can go off quickly and with little investment of time and resources come back with a robust assessment of the situation (think the 80/20 rule). The tension really emerges during “Round 2.” To refine the last 20% of the understanding an organization would need to invest 4x more effort. This is the organizational pinch point of the quality trap. The quality trap emerges because if a professional doesn’t provide management with the product when it is desired one can be punished for a lack of responsiveness. Alternatively, if one provides a product at the level of quality that can be achieved in the allotted time, one can be punished for inferior work. This situation for workers is a classic _Catch-22_. Vocal agreements between workers and managers cannot be verified. If a worker wants the manager to put it in writing, it can be interpreted as a lack of trust, and the manager might respond that there isn’t time for that. In all this ambiguity, it is the worker who is precariously situated. Quality is gratifying to produce. It is sometimes essential. Often it isn’t. Understanding how workers and managers perceive and experience this situation differently facilitates the development of a shared understanding of what is needed and what can be achieved. Otherwise, workers can find themselves in a quality trap in which they can only underperform. #### Related Items [[Quality]] [[Pareto Principle]] [[Heuristics]] [[Business]] [[Efficiency]] [[Analytics]] [[Management]] [[Catch-22]]