Photo by Yves Arman From Cosmos

...if it's not going to be perfect then why bother?

The above quote is from a video analyzing the Jan van Eyck painting below. The quote and video got me thinking about how much obsession it takes to do truly great work. It hit a little close to home because I haven't been committing my time to work that I'm particularly proud of recently. I have been doing work that passes through a feedback wringer mostly unscathed—that is good work, not great work. To me, great work in general leaves a lasting impression and just feels right without trying too hard. That's a very vague explanation, I know, but great work gives the viewer a feeling that it was done by someone who cares deeply about their craft on a borderline obsessive level.

By Jan van Eyck / Presumably Hubert van Eyck - Web Gallery of Art:   Image  Info about artwork, Public Domain, Link

I work as a frontend developer—trying to pivot to design engineering—and looking at the works of established figures in the industry, I think I have figured out why they evoke the feeling I described above. Whenever I'm scrolling through Twitter and I come across a design or prototype, nine times out of ten I stop scrolling just to appreciate the craft. Either the work is intuitively and meticulously designed and engineered, or it makes me think, "I want to get to this level," or "Why can't I do this?" Surface-level or "good work" just doesn't evoke this reaction in me, and ironically, that's the type of work I produce.

Great work has many qualities, but above all, it is never rushed. People who do great work never settle for the first draft; they don't turn to AI-generated slop just to "ship quick" for the sweet MRR posts they get to share on Twitter after (I don't even think most of those posts are real anyway).

Great work also goes through numerous prototypes or field tests, so to speak: prototype, test, refine, repeat. I like to think the first car designs or airplane designs went through this process.

Great work innovates. Why stick to limiting rules when you can reinvent the wheel in purposeful ways? Great work sets standards that other people look up to. This is why Apple is copied so much—because they set standards, design, and interaction-wise.

Great work also imitates. I know this defeats the point of the last paragraph, but bear with me. I believe imitation is very different from blatant copying. Imitation done right is building on set standards while still innovating. Dieter Rams' designs are imitated in meaningful ways in modern hardware, for example—not copied.

Finally, to do great work, an obscene level of obsession with sweating the details is needed, alongside impeccable taste.

Going forward, I'll be applying these to everything I do, so I can finally do work that I am proud of. Remember, when you see great work vs. good work, the difference is immediately clear.

• Linear
• Josh Comeau
• Jakub
• Maxime Heckel
• Carl Hauser
• Cyd Stumpel
• Rauno
• Nelson
• Benji
• Lee
• Emil
• You? It's an exhaustive list

• How we redesigned the Linear UI (part Ⅱ)
• Why is quality so rare?
• Developing taste