[karimf]

I remember quality vs. quantity story of ceramics class. [0]

> The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the "quantity" group: fifty pound of pots rated an "A", forty pounds a "B", and so on. Those being graded on "quality", however, needed to produce only one pot - albeit a perfect one - to get an "A".

Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the "quantity" group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes - the "quality" group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.

[0] https://blog.codinghorror.com/quantity-always-trumps-quality...

[SonicSoul]

I love this story and I want it to be true. I've tried to trace it in the past but seems every source tells a story without any details. So not sure if this is a parable or actually happen. I believe that practice/iteration is the way to improve, it just seems a little too black and white

In a similar vein on producing quantity of work before trying to be perfect, I always refer to Ira Glass's video The Gap. Must watch if you haven't seen

https://vimeo.com/85040589

[0xdeadbeefbabe]

Makes you want to become a ceramics instructor just so you can have a primary source.

P.S.

I'd listen to Ira more if he didn't sound so annoying.