Relentlessly push boundaries

Always ask, "How can this be better?" "How will we win?" Know when to balance delivery with perfection.

Back to the universal principles

Calibration

Under, just right, over.

Situation	Under	Just Right	Over
A result that is merely fine	Ships it and does not ask how it could win, not just finish.	Asks what would make it clearly better for the customer, and does the one change that fits the date.	Holds the result for a leap that misses the date and does not improve what ships.
How will we win	Plans the work as a list of tasks and never asks what winning means.	Says what winning looks like, in the customer's terms, and checks the plan against it.	Rewrites the ambition every few days so the team cannot deliver any version of it.
Delivery versus perfection	Calls done as soon as it runs, including the parts a customer would trip on.	Sets the bar for this delivery, hits it, and writes down the improvement that waits until next time.	Keeps perfecting past the bar you set, and the delivery moves.
A path the customer could choose instead	Ignores the other way they could get the job done.	Looks at that alternative and changes one thing so your path is the better one.	Copies the alternative feature for feature and loses the date and the point.
The first version is not the win	Treats the first version as the finished ambition.	Ships a version that teaches you something, with a dated next step toward the win.	Refuses to ship until the full ambition is in the first version.
Raising the bar on a date	Lowers the bar quietly so the date is easy.	Keeps the date and raises one part of the result that the customer will actually feel.	Raises every part of the bar and then misses the date you promised.

Further reading

Sources and essays on this principle.

Life at Arm
The published wording of this principle, under the 10x Mindset.
arm.com
Arm Company
The mission and company context this principle is meant to serve.
arm.com