ADEQUACY: Enough Is Better than the Best

Adequacy is a condition of being sufficient for a particular purpose. It is a fundamental concept.

When anybody flashes numbers before you, it is reasonable to ask, “Is it adequate for the purpose?” or “How much is enough?” The logic is simple: any number only has a meaning in the context of endpoints, criteria, parameters, and measurements {ECPM}. A million dollars is a substantial sum if we want to buy a house for a family, yet it will be inadequate if we aim to build a clinic with 1500 beds.

Many concepts are applications of this one.

QUALITY is the adequacy of something to fit the desired purpose. For example, we bought a pencil to write a letter. Unfortunately, when we tried to sharpen it, it broke many times, and when we finally managed to point it, it hardly left any trace on the paper. Moreover, it scratched and tore the paper. Thus, the pencil is of low quality, i.e., it was inadequate for our purpose. We bought another one. And this one writes smoothly, leaving a clear, dark line. Moreover, it does not smear. Pleased, we say that the pencil is of high quality—adequate for our purposes.

COMPETENCE is the adequacy of somebody’s skills to achieve the desired endpoint. When a person has shown that he cannot perform a task, we call him incompetent. Certification is a socially accepted way to signal the adequacy of a certified professional to a particular curriculum. Certification signals that a person’s skill set is adequate for a specific set of tasks. We use certification to decrease uncertainty. You do not come to treat your teeth to someone who says he can do it—you want a person with certification from a trustworthy institution. {EXPERT VS. PROFESSIONAL, EXPERT}

ORGANIZATIONAL FIT is another type of adequacy. A person as an employee must be adequate to the place she occupies. Administrative skill means filling positions with people adequate to places. Although there can be crappy bosses and crappy joints, it is often not about a good workplace, team, boss, or a bad one; it is about the one you fit or do not. {CRAPPY BOSSES, CRAPPY JOINT}

COMMUNICATION only happens and reaches its endpoint when it conveys a message adequate to the receiver of the message. The most obvious example of inadequacy is the impossibility of communicating with someone who speaks a different language. Yet, even in the case of both native speakers, they might not understand one another if the message, encryption, and transmission are inadequate to the receiver.

{COMMUNICATION PRINCIPLES, CURSE OF KNOWLEDGE, COMMON SENSE, INFORMATION ASYMMETRY, PLANNING: Q&A, WORK: Q&A}