On letting perfect be the enemy of good in the small net

The aphorism "perfect is the enemy of good" reflects the fact that even imperfect things can be valuable. Many of us -- especially those of us who work with computers -- tend to be perfectionists. We can spend hours or days trying to make something just right, even something relatively trivial.

It's a trait I recognize in myself. I've spent hours getting all the metadata tags in my huge collection of audio files perfectly consistent, to the extent that I don't actually have time to listen to the music. Sometimes I obsess for hours about the perfect choice of word in my writing, only to come back later and delete the entire page. I've been know to get up at night, and straighten paintings on the wall.

In the world of the small net/web, the Gemini protocol is not perfect. Spartan is not perfect. IndieWeb 'micro-formats' are not perfect. The Gopher protocol is definitely not perfect, in a way that ought to have been patently obvious even in the 1970s.

All these things can, in my view, be improved. Part of me desperately wants them to be improved, because they aren't perfect, and I want perfect.

Here's the problem, though: should we really be spending time trying to make something that is perfect, or live with what we have, flaws and all? In the commercial world, we scarcely have a decision to make: nobody can afford perfection. We're lucky if we can even reach the standard of 'good'.

But the small net is a movement operated by, and for, enthusiasts. It will almost certainly never generate revenue for anybody. Perfection is, in principle, achievable -- at least to somebody's standards. But is it worth it?

In the various places where Gemini is discussed, there are always suggestions that this could be better, or that could be better. That most of these discussions are taking place using Gemini suggests that it is, at least, useable. There are plenty of websites built using 'small web' and 'IndieWeb' principles, at least as we understand them. The lack of precision in the various founding documents doesn't stop people getting value from using them.

I admit to being conflicted about this. I've let perfect be the enemy of good my whole life, and I can see now how it's hindered my productivity.

Perhaps the world needs good more than it needs perfect?

Published 2026-03-23, updated 2026-03-23

On letting perfect be the enemy of good in the small net

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