She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
This episode from the Bible always looked contradictory with the catholic (actually benedictine) teaching: ora et labora, where divine and mundane affairs are put in tandem.
The story of Martha and Mary has an instructive purpose: Jesus's teaching is the most important thing. Nothing earthly comes close to it.
How this relates to projects (either IT or other)?
In a project it is mandatory to re-evaluate the priorities based on the consensus (or leading) convinction of objectives, as set by the key players. Even if those priorities contradict one own's perspective. And regardless of how well or bad informed are either points of view.
For instance: a poorly implementation of a feature may be an irrelevant thing by the time to project is delivered. If such problem results in excessive consumption of resources, this expense may be simply considered unavoidable and assumed by the project without further review.
Convincing the key players in a project that our own work is pristine and that any flaws are intrinsic (hence cannot be fixed) is an strategy to keep our work on the Jesus side of affairs. If everybody is convinced about that, we are on the good track towards our own success.
In short: the project objectives depend on the perception of its key players (customer, management and workforce, in this order of relevance). As participant in any of these roles, make sure to align the top players with your outcomes, so your work becomes that of Mary.
Before your own position is considered unfocused (you would be Martha then), make sure to prioritize your work on those aspects deemed key by the project as a whole; if you fail to do so, you will be forcibly re-oriented.