Shipped is Better than Perfect
You can’t score from the sidelines. I’d like to help you get out there, mix things up, and ship your product.
Changing the world isn’t easy. I won’t be satisfied until I do, and even then, I won’t stop trying. To change the world, you must ship your product. But the idea of “just ship it” is deceptively simple.
You put your heart and soul into your creation, it’s right that you want it to be as great as possible before letting your baby out into the world. I’ve been through it; building, iterating, throwing it away, holding back for too long, and releasing too soon. Deciding when you’re ready to ship is a nuanced process with many inputs where it’s difficult to analyze the result.
Perfection is no guarantee of success, but failure is certain if you never ship. And ship, you must. I’ve got a few tips for Getting to Shipped…
Address Common Reasons for Stalling
Whatever your role — from CEO, engineer, or designer to caring outsider like mentors and family/friends — the final decision to ship may not lie with you, but you can still affect the decision. It may be your product team, investors, cofounder, or even the voice in your head; you’re going to debate when you should ship. In that discussion, there’s a good chance you hear one or more of these lines:
“Good is the enemy of great”
This is true. When the market thinks a product is good, the creator has less incentive to push themselves. They may settle for good instead of striving for greatness. This applies to companies with some amount of success. It does not apply when you’ve yet to ship.
If you hear this objection — implying that your unshipped product isn’t good enough because it’s not perfect — you ought to point out that “perfect is the enemy of good”. You face the law of diminishing returns, the 80/20 rule. Additionally, your perception of great will be much harsher than that of your customers. Those are the opinions that really matter. Get your product in front of them. Do it now!
“We need more UX testing first”
Mockups, hallway tests, UXTestingWhatever.com, iOS Enterprise Program, strangers in Starbucks, and any other way to get feedback are indispensable.They’re also insufficient. Proxies for real world usage are both lacking (because they’re approximations) and disengeneous (situation and context are contrived). While you can make marked improvements, find and fix bugs, and test on users without the curse of knowledge, it’s simply not the same as being exposed in the wild.
“We have a reputation to worry about”
True, you only have one chance to make a first impression. When Apple launches a piece of hardware, they have one chance to nail it or embarrass themselves. You’re not Apple and the world is not watching you. Worrying about reputation assumes that (1) you already know who you customer is and (2) you’re able to distribute to them. Your first users will be early adopters, willing to overlook imperfections and quick to tell friends they “always knew” your product was great.
Inspire “Getting to Shipped”
Getting your product shipped, or convincing others that it’s time to ship, is a marathon, not a sprint. Sometimes, it’s not direct debate that gets you there. It’s the culture, the mindframe of the decision maker, or a combination of so many little things you can’t put your finger on. It may seem cheesy on the surface, but I’ve found quotes like these useful for myself and for others. They don’t have to be on a poster or in your email signature, post-it notes work just fine for me.
A ship in port is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. Sail out to see and do new things. — Grace Hopper
Give them the third best to go on with; the second best comes too late, the best never comes. — Watson-Watt
No plan survives contact with the enemy — Helmuth von Moltke the Elder
The question isn’t who is going to let me, it’s who is going to stop me — Ayn Rand
Don’t sweat the petty things and don’t pet the sweaty things — George Carlin
It’s Good, Keep Going
In time you’ll look on your product, compare it to what you first shipped, and feel embarassed. We should all be so lucky.
Remember, shipped is better than perfect. It’s never done.
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