The enemy of “good” is “better”. My mama says so all the time (Kevin, give me more of Leda’s mama words).

The moment you realize that ‘better’ is possible, ‘good’ is no longer enough
That’s true. And it’s not a comfortable truth. Because it never ends. And secondly, the moment we realize that ‘better’ is possible, ‘good’ is no longer good enough.
Let them know that we are in a position that is qualitatively different from “perfection is the enemy of perfection.” My mother’s position, as always, is a call to action, vigilance, and repetition. In that sense, it is the exact opposite of “perfection is the enemy of perfection,” where prejudice is the enemy. My mother’s call to action is a reminder that just after you think you’ve finished building something ‘good’, something ‘better’ may come along. . and again. and again. As much as “better” is possible.
If only the bank listened to my mother.
I know that in the last few weeks we’ve been digging deep into culture and behavior and human stupidity. I’ll be back with other stuff soon, I promise.Today’s little rant is over real time everything.
And it’s a four-part story.
Part 1: Who Cares?
Paraphrasing of course, when I went around to explain what APIs are, how they work, and why APIs are useful and, in fact, inevitable, they were largely indifferent.
Then there was resistance.
But at first there was a deep indifference. It’s important to remember that.
So We had resistanceand in that we had both high drama and pure comedy. We moved it to the first model and never explained to the business how that would affect the price point… oh and when they found out we were all having fun…he then said I never longed for this world, but as you can imagine, the tide has turned and the future has landed…and the future has become uncomfortably cheap…but that’s another story.)
Part 2: Holding a hammer makes everything look like a nail
you know the part
We have overcome past indifference and resistance and are now experimenting.
The innovation team got the green light to use the technology and took it to the streets.
When blockchain became mandatory, we saw it come to lengths of comedy. Some of the use cases were really weird. It’s like your aunt orders too much of a particular fabric and suddenly the whole family has matching patterned clothes for curtains, upholstery and dog beds. just say It’s normal. But it doesn’t help.
So when the API became accepted by banks, we started to see some weird and wonderful things like push notifications showing real-time custody position movementswhich is greatbut , The custody position doesn’t move very often, and when it does, it’s OK to surprise. But no.
Part 3: Yes, but let’s lie down first
this is my favorite part.
This came right after the second phase of leveraging technology to try to create single-problem use cases, creating real-time events rather than event-streaming architectures. And trying to do so created a daunting and terrifying realization that a few things were required to provide a real-time service. Second, real-time services mean real-time experiences. So it’s not enough that the bits here are real-time, the whole client journey has to be real-time. Yes, it also means an unhappy road. Furthermore, all activities, processes, permits and calculations must be real-time. And that’s quite a lot.
Onboarding? Affectionately known within the bank as “The Furry Beast”. (Every bank you can name must have a version of their onboarding project that’s been running longer than you’ve been alive. They’re not the same project. It’s never failed. It’s just not finished yet.)
certification? KYC?
payment?
settlement?
Pricing?
All Items? like what? Also a mortgage?
And for corporate? Real-time liquidity management?
Do you know how many systems you will need?
Yes, it is. all of them.
Part 4: All at Once
Contrary to what you might expect, this realization did not cause panic or a surge of activity. It caused a slowdown. where do i start? Is there a way around it? Are there any shortcuts? Anyone else doing this? are we left behind? Keeping up with Jones seems like a good strategy, doesn’t it? Anyone know what Jones is up to?
And Jones didn’t move too fast. That put him at ease. and misleading.
Because the Jones family didn’t move fast, but the market did. Challengers did. Regulators did. The economy did.
everything that needs to be real time that isProbably not in your store.
It may not have had to be realtime, it may not have had to be realtime, but now it has to be realtime…everything else that depends on them works properly make sure to
And all of this must work together securely, at scale, and in real time.
now.
And the reason “now” is the time is because the enemy of “good” is “better.” And “better” comes to you from all directions except within.
I’m not saying you or your usual existing competitors are “not good” when it comes to your digital achievements…I’m saying what’s going on around you is “good” only.
And my mother will tell you, that’s reason enough to go through with… more… yourself.
And folks, listen to my mother.
#LedaWrites
Leda Glyptis is FinTech Futures’ resident thought provocateur. She leads, writes, lives and breathes transformation and digital disruption.
S.He’s a recovering banker, unemployed, and a long-term resident of the banking ecosystem. She is Chief Customer Officer for her 10x Future Technologies.
All opinions are her own. We can’t have them, but discussions and comments are welcome!
Follow Leda on Twitter @LedaGlyptis When LinkedIn.