14. We Can’t Settle for Passable

But I think that in the beginning everyone felt responsible for what they’d made. But then we started calculating sales, and thinking about cost performance. Of course there’s nothing wrong with that, but somehow it all becomes someone else’s responsibility at that point.

Right, it becomes someone else’s responsibility.

So sometimes when we’re presenting what we’ve made, we end up saying, “I guess it’s okay, right?” And I think that’s really unacceptable.

Oh yeah.

You’ll ask the director, “How does it look?” And he’ll answer, “It’s passable.” How could you call something passable?

Oh...

You’re very strict about things like that. (laughs)

But I know what he means there. We can’t have something passable. There’s no point in comparing us to Nintendo, but...yeah, we don’t use the word “passable.”

What words would you use?

Uh, what do we say?

When someone asks, “How is it?” I think that it takes more courage to answer, “It’s pretty good.”

Hmm, that’s true. Because “pretty good” means “good.”

Very true.

But if I say, “Looking good!” then often they’ll reply, “Isn’t it?”

Right, but they won’t say it until you say that.

Right. It gives them the confidence. The projects that go well are usually like that.

That makes sense.

Compared to that, “passable” doesn’t really tell you anything. Is it 10 percent out of 100? 80 percent? 60 percent? It doesn’t even tell you that. “Passable” takes away everyone’s responsibility.

It’s unsettling, because at that point the discussion is taking places without any set values.

That’s right.

That’s why I don’t go into product theory at that point, I just think about the question of how to approach the specific work

Oh, yeah.

I get the most angry when people don’t have a sense of the joy of standing in the batter’s box.

Oh, that’s true.

It upsets me. Obviously everyone wants their turn up at plate, but the guy standing in the batter’s box...

He has no enthusiasm.

Right. He’s just like, I came and swung the bat as much as I could and then I went home. The worst is when he acts like he doesn’t care, like, “Was that bad?” I want to say, “That’s really rude to everyone involved.”

That’s right. I feel very similar.

Do you? So, I’m pretty forgiving if they only hit a grounder to second, or a pop-up. But if they aren’t thinking about how hard they’re going to hit it while they’re in the batter’s box, if they’re just sitting there, like, “Oh well, it was just one of my at-bats...” I’ll get mad about that once or twice a year.

Yeah.