Taste and Standards as Meeting Spec
Good taste is knowing what people want just before they do; high standards means relentlessly improving the spec, not hiding behind perfectionism.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 86%
Godin reframes two fuzzy ideas into operational definitions. Good taste is knowing what other people want just before they do — bringing the world something it didn't expect but is glad to see. Quality is not luxury or perfection; it's meeting spec. Having high standards means relentlessly improving the spec in service of the people you serve — not refusing to ship something that meets spec because you're a perfectionist, which is just a form of hiding.
Origin
Seth Godin, prompted by a question from former colleague Wes about how he helped her build taste and higher standards.
Core principles
- 01Good taste = knowing what others want just before they do
- 02Taste means bringing something unexpected the world is glad to see
- 03Quality is not luxury and not perfection — quality is meeting spec
- 04If you meet spec, you're done; if the spec isn't good enough, make a better spec
- 05Refusing to ship spec-meeting work out of perfectionism is hiding
How to run it
- 1
Anchor standards to the people you serve
Define your standard as the delight of the specific customer you're describing — not pleasing your boss and not your own perfectionism.
Pro tip If the target customer is delighted with what you shipped, it's good — regardless of your excuses.
Watch out Optimizing to please your boss instead of the customer is the opposite of high standards.
- 2
Write and relentlessly improve the spec
Make the specification explicit; if it isn't good enough, improve the spec itself in service of the people you're working for.
Pro tip High standards live in the spec, not in endless polishing of a finished thing.
- 3
Ship when you meet spec
Once the work meets the (improved) spec, ship it. Don't hold it back chasing perfection.
Pro tip Build your taste by working with people who have high standards and can see what others will want next.
Watch out Refusing to ship spec-meeting work because you're a perfectionist is hiding, not quality.
In the wild
At his first real job as a product manager at Spinnaker, Godin learned the goal wasn't to make something perfect for the team but to delight the person buying the software. The standard was untouchable: if that person is delighted, it's good; if not, no excuse matters.
→ Anchoring to customer delight (not internal approval) produced five straight gold-selling products that saved the company.
Common mistakes
Confusing perfectionism with high standards
Holding back spec-meeting work is hiding; real high standards mean improving the spec, then shipping.
Defining quality as luxury or perfection
Quality is meeting spec, not adding luxury or chasing flawlessness; a wrong definition wastes effort on the wrong target.
Is it for you?
Best for
Product people and creatives who over-polish or optimize for a boss's approval instead of the end customer.
Not ideal for
Contexts where the spec genuinely is the ceiling and no customer-facing judgment is involved.
From the transcript
“I Define good taste as knowing what other people want just before they do”
“quality is not luxury quality is not Perfection quality means meeting spec and if you meet spec you're done if you don't think the spec…”
“what it doesn't mean is that you take something that meets spec and refuse to ship it because you're a perfectionist that's hiding”
From the episode
Seth Godin's best tactics for building remarkable products, strategies, brands and more