Due Diligence

"Quality only counts when you care enough to do your best." - Dad

"Due diligence" is a term that our office throws around quite frequently. See, my professional life is nestled in the gentle arms of the industrial field. Safety and quality of production are two very important aspects of our daily work. Due diligence refers to giving a task the work that it deserves. The result is a higher quality of work and a safer atmosphere.

I feel like many professionals today tend to emphasize efficiency. They post numerous articles and blogs about how to get more done in less time. The result is having more hours added to the end of your day. I am all in favor of productivity and of working as efficiently as possible. I love going into work with my to-do list already out and the amount of time each task will take. It is truly fun for me to scratch through a completed task with my trusty red pen and move on to the next one. However, I also believe that sacrificing quality for the sake of speed is taking very poor ownership of your job.

Think about the food industry. There have been hundreds of inventions that make food preparation much quicker. The microwave oven, the toaster, and the electric mixer are all perfect examples. But when my wife and I go out to eat at a steakhouse, I am paying for my steak to be cooked a certain (not in a microwave) way. The chef could prepare my steak much more quickly with a microwave but it would sacrifice the quality of the meal for which I am paying. As I am writing and thinking about this, there are several steakhouses springing to mind that need a microwave search-and-destroy in their kitchens. 

Another example is in athletics and sports. One of my favorite quotes is from the renowned basketball coach of the University of California in Los Angeles, John Wooden. 

"Be quick, but don't hurry." - John Wooden 

This was a coaching philosophy that Wooden preached to his players. He demanded excellence and the highest efficiency level possible. However, he also knew that when athletes get in a hurry, they can quickly lose focus and ultimately sacrifice the competition as a result. Strength under control is what due diligence is really about.

Focus on the quality of your work while still maintaining efficiency. This is a really tough balance to find and one that takes a significant amount of experimentation to find. But the quality of your work shows your employer, your coworkers, and everyone who sees it that you take honest pride in what you do. That is the mark of a true professional. Just be quick about it. Don't let anyone out-hustle you because you will end up picking up only what they leave behind. Balancing quality with speed is a tough job, to be sure. But I'm very confident you and I are up to accept that challenge and become more effective professionals in the process. Until next time, stay classy.

-Andrew