Try it, Tweak it, Trash it

I love it when someone calls out the paralysing effect of perfectionism in the room.

It happened just last week. I was running an offsite, and you could feel the heaviness as the team tried to design a new process to tackle an operational challenge. They were brainstorming, but it felt more like swimming in treacle.

As they spitballed, I scribed on the whiteboard. Each time I turned around to show the latest sketch, I was met with six or seven faces locked in that polite-but-pained expression.

A collective “Yeah... nah.”

Sensing the stuckness, I said, “Can we try something. Let’s give ourselves 5 minutes to see what we can come up with - and we’ll run it as an experiment.”

A flicker of energy, a few more ideas… followed quickly by more contorted expressions. That’s when it slipped out. One of the team called out:

“Oi! Can perfection please leave the room? We’re trying to make some progress here!”

Everyone laughed - but the tension broke. Within 10 minutes, they had something rough, real, and ready to test.

In that moment, I also realised I’d skipped one of my favourite guidelines for these kinds of team problem-solving conversations:  

Try it. Tweak it. Trash it.

It’s not a fancy framework. It’s a practical way of navigating uncertainty, getting unstuck, and moving from overthinking to momentum. Let me break it down.

1. Try it

Growth comes one awkward experiment at a time. Don’t wait for perfect - just try something. Whatever it is - get it out of your head and into the real world. If it works, great. If it doesn’t, at least now you know. You can stand at the door and call out “Next!”.

Progress doesn’t come from having the right answers - it comes from creating the conditions for trying and then tweaking.

2. Tweak it

Once something’s in motion, you can step back and ask: what do we want to tweak? Tweak the edges. Adjust the language. Rework the flow. This is the sweet spot - not perfection, but progression.

Tweaking is lighter than reinventing. It keeps you in motion, but with learning embedded in every step. It’s a riff on the classic “more of, less of” review.

One leader I work with introduced a new internal comms rhythm. The first version landed flat. But instead of ditching it, she asked her team what they needed more (or less) of. One small tweak: shorter updates, with a single question at the end. Engagement spiked.

Tweaking says: “We’re building this together.”

3. Trash it

This is the part that makes the first two work.

Sometimes, despite the best intentions, you have to admit: this thing just isn’t working. Maybe the team’s not responding the way you’d predicted. Maybe it’s adding friction instead of clarity. Maybe it made sense on paper, but in the real world, it’s just noise.

Whatever it is - be joyful about throwing your arms in the air and declaring with enthusiasm, “So glad we tried it… now let’s trash it!”

That’s not failure. Knowing when to stop is just as valuable as knowing how to start.

Trashing something you’ve tried isn’t wasteful - so long as you move quickly. It’s what allows you to move forward uncluttered.

Working in the lab of progress

“Try it, Tweak it, Trash it” is more than a framework. It’s a culture you can build.

By regularly asking these questions, you’re inviting everyone to step into the lab - where experimentation is the norm. It creates space for creativity, experimentation, and speed. It reduces the fear of being wrong, and increases the chances of creating real value over time.

You can use it as a check-in framework: What are we trying? What needs tweaking? What are we ready to trash?

To unblock decisions: What’s the version we can try this week—without overcooking it?

To build shared language around progress over perfection.

Over to you...

Next time you feel that heavy, perfectionist energy creeping into the room - say it out loud if you need to:

“Can perfection please leave the room? We’re trying to make some progress here.”

And then?

Try it. Tweak it. Trash it.

Rinse and repeat.

Until next time,
Simon