The Devil's in the Details

adventure, backpack, defiant, excellence, mission, product design, ruck, status quo -

The Devil's in the Details

There’s an old saying:  “The devil’s in the details.”  No matter how good your plan or your product is, if you don’t pay attention to the details, it won’t come to much.  Think you can just wing it and everything will come out ok?  Think you can cut corners and still produce a product that is dependable and functional?  Think again.  The outcome is dependent on the details.  

Cutting corners is intentionally leaving problems unaddressed because they’re too much trouble to deal with.  Really what we’re talking about is complacency—accepting things as they are even though improvements need to be made.  Improving on the status quo is difficult; it takes a great deal of time and effort.  And many people choose the easy path of accepting the status quo—simply because they can’t be bothered to take a hard look at the details and make sure they get them right.

Whether you’re planning a hunting trip, a military mission, or a backpacking adventure, you need to sweat the small stuff, because the success of any mission rides on the details.  The centuries-old “For want of a Nail” proverb illustrates this by describing a kingdom falling because someone didn’t bother to drive the last nail into a horseshoe.  Now this illustration is a bit exaggerated, and that’s ok because the author was making a very important point.  But catastrophes don’t generally occur because of one mistake.  Catastrophes are more likely to occur because a group of people get apathetic about The Details. 

The insidious reality is that cutting corners is contagious.  When someone in a group starts cutting corners, unless someone with some backbone and foresight stops that practice cold, others will follow that example and it becomes a habit.  That habit becomes ingrained in the culture, and then something catastrophic happens.  All because people got used to cutting corners and quit paying attention to detail.

If you’re building a product, attention to detail is equally critical.  The utility of a product is directly proportional to the amount of attention paid to the details.  You may have seen products that look good from a distance, but on closer inspection, you find that the details are so poorly executed that the products are functionally useless.  If you want to produce quality results, you must pay meticulous attention to the details.DEFIANT Backpack Detail

Proper design and execution of the details will make or break a backpack or other carry equipment.  The design, the fit, the fabric, the stitching are all critical.  A failure in any of these areas severely degrades the pack’s functionality.  An overlooked detail or a cut corner will turn a product with lots of potential into a liability.  At DEFIANT, we care about the details, because we know that mission success is on the line.  And anyway, we don’t see much point in making mediocre products.

DEFIANT Pack DetailWe’re currently working through the patent process and finalizing prototypes of deliberately rebellious carry gear, and we’re looking forward to our launch which is set for this coming spring.  If you’re an adventurer who cares about the details, then we invite you to join the DEFIANT tribe.  Subscribe to our mailing list to receive adventuring advice, occasional updates and offers, and advance notice of our pending launch.