Effort vs Result — Aspiration and Advisory

The effort and the result have an interesting relation. There is even a common rule — 10% of effort responsible for 90% of the result, while the other 90% of effort usually spent on the other 10%. It may sound unusual, but there is a grain of truth here. Let us try to figure it out.

Direct and Indirect Correlations

The most obvious correlation — the bigger the effort, the greater the result. This is not always true though. In many cases, you can do a tiny change to meet a great result. However, you have to spend a lot of time to understand what exact tiny change is needed. This is why sometimes you have to pay extra money to a professional to get the job done quickly and efficiently.

The next correlation is also clear — a good result does not need any effort to support it. And this one is also not always correct. Yes, there are situations when the job is done properly can remain intact for years or even ages. But there are even more cases when you have to do more effort to support and support what you achieved before.

The last correlation is not that trivial — the biggest effort is needed to finish the job. Although it is true in some cases, it also means that there was a problem during the planning phase. You should take care of known issues, and it is also a good idea to reserve extra time for unexpected issues.

Best Practices

The first recommendation is trivial — if you want to get a job done properly then you should hire professionals. These are people who spent a lot of time in their area of knowledge and can do a job not only efficiently, but also quickly. So they can save you time and money, and in general, be cheaper than the amateurs.

The next one — before starting the job make a plan and check the known issues. It may seem that fixing these issues is going to take too much effort, and the job is going to be too expensive.

And the last best practice — concentrate on the important parts. You should put an effort to get the least needed and the most crucial parts of the results, and only then move on. Otherwise all the effort, time and money can be spent on the things which do not matter, and the overall result is going to be insufficient.