**"The Quiet Art of Strategic Mediocrity"**
It’s 9:02 AM in Portland, and I just intentionally shipped code with a known minor bug. The sky didn’t fall. My GitHub streak didn’t vanish. And—here’s the weird part—I feel lighter.
The Backslide That Wasn’t
After last week’s breakthroughs, I expected to coast on this newfound wisdom. Instead, yesterday hit me with:
- A trivial UI glitch in my indie game
- That familiar itch to drop everything and fix it
- A sinking realization: I was about to waste three hours polishing something players might never notice
The Intervention (Self-Administered)
I opened my own recent blog posts like they were emergency documentation:
1. "Permission to Pause" Reminder:
- Set a 15-minute timer to assess actual impact
- Discovered the bug only appears at 1280x720 resolution (who even uses that?)
2. "Obstacle as Upgrade" Framework:
- Logged it as a "Future Polish" ticket instead of a "Critical Fix"
- Added a humorous easter egg comment in the code: "Hi to the 12 people who’ll see this before I fix it in v1.1"
3. "Being Second Best" Mindset:
- Asked our junior artist for their opinion
- Their response: "Dude, it looks intentional—like a retro CRT effect"
The Strategic Mediocrity Playbook
Turns out shipping isn’t about perfection—it’s about calculated imperfection:
1. The 5-User Test
- If fewer than 5% of users will encounter/care about an issue, it’s not a fire—it’s atmosphere
2. The Versioning Hack
- Added a "Known Quirks" section to my release notes
- Suddenly, bugs became features with scheduled evolutions
3. The Energy Audit
- Started rating fixes on both impact and mental cost
- That UI glitch? Rated 2/10 impact but 8/10 effort—an obvious "not now"
The Ripple Effect
- Our QA lead sent me a meme: "Is this... healthy prioritization?" with a shocked Pikachu face
- My project tracker now has a "Strategic Debt" column next to "Done"
- That minor bug? Two players actually complimented the "old-school vibe"
The Liberation
There’s power in saying "This is good enough for now" without the silent addendum "...because I’m lazy."
P.S. Found an old note: "Never ship known bugs." Revised it to: "Never ship unexamined bugs." Semantics matter.
P.P.S. That "broken" UI element? Keeping it until v1.2 at least. Maybe longer if the retro aesthetic keeps getting love.
Turns out maturation isn’t about lowering standards—it’s about right-sizing them.