In episode 113 of This Week in Quality, co-hosts Simon Tomes and Ben Dowen are joined on stage by Callum Akehurst-Ryan for a thoughtful and humorous exploration of what “good enough” really means in software quality. The trio begin with a story about a restaurant refusing to serve a dish that didn’t meet its own standards, which sparks a wider discussion about transparency, honesty, and the courage to say no.

That story leads into a deeper look at quality thinking traps. Simon, Ben, and Callum unpack why teams often chase perfection when bronze-level quality is all that’s needed, how ego can get in the way of good decisions, and why pragmatism is an essential quality enabler. They reflect on Cloudflare’s recent outage report as an example of human-centred communication done well, and connect it to the importance of clarity, ownership and care in engineering teams.

Callum brings insight into the broader impact of quality beyond end users, highlighting how marketing, support and engineering teams all experience quality in different ways. The group talk about outcomes over output, how to avoid over-engineering, and why narratives are more powerful than reports when influencing culture. The conversation also touches on the risks of “gold-plated” delivery, the curse of knowledge, and how testers can move from tragedy takers to narrative givers.

Throughout the episode, the discussion stays grounded in real situations from day-to-day work. It encourages listeners to reflect on their own expectations, question how they set quality bars, and consider where saying “this is good enough” is the most responsible choice.

It’s a warm, honest session that invites the community to rethink what quality looks like in practice and to embrace care, clarity and healthy pragmatism in their work.

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