Idea · carried by 1 source
99% Done Is Closer to 0%
A Revolut mental model about execution: if something is 99% done, it's closer to 0% than 100%. The last 1% — the polish, the edge cases, the customer care team knowing about it, the marketing push — is what makes a feature actually deliver value. Without it, a feature is just “another useless feature which no one knows about.”
Where it comes from
Dmitry Zlokazov on Lenny's Podcast (highlights/zlokazov-revolut-pms): “There needs to be relentless focus on execution and if something is 99% done it's closer to 0% rather than 100%.” [~56:21-56:27]
How it works
- Building the feature is only part of the job
- Product owners must also ensure:
- Customer care team knows about it
- Sales and marketing teams are using it to full extent
- Edge cases are handled
- The last details are polished
- Without this final push, “it could be just another useless feature which no one knows about”
- This is why product owners at Revolut are hands-on — they don't just assign tasks, they go and get things done themselves
Execution isn't done when the code ships. It's done when the customer experiences value. The gap between “built” and “valued” is where most products die.