All times ship
We’ve all read blog posts that tell you to release your software product while you’re still embarrased. ”Ship” they say. What do they know? Once you’ve released your product, people will judge you. Surely it’s better to wait a little bit longer and release something polished. The first impression is important, and your product sure as hell isn’t ready:
The UI is average.
It’s missing “key” features.
It’s not integrated into social networks yet.
The logo needs work.
You’ll release it when all this is done - just a week longer, that’ll be all it takes. It will take the world by storm. People will love it immediately. They’ll share it. It will go viral. You’ll be on a beach somewhere smashing back Mojitos like they’re going out of fashion in no time with all the money you make from this thing.
Maybe. But, maybe not.
Maybe or maybe not. A 50/50 chance. Pah! I’ll risk it to get the biscuit. I’ll release it when it’s done.
But it’s not really 50/50. Chances are your “week longer” will change into two, three, one month, two months, maybe more. And even after all of this:
People still might not like your product - it might not solve a stubborn enough problem for them or they might not find it enjoyable to use.
You still might not like your UI even after the redesign.
Your logo might still look crap.
Your product might be used in ways that you never thought of, requiring another redesign.
All the time you’ve taken to perfect your baby, and you’re probably going to have to spend at least that again. That’s not even the worst of it. Worst case, while you’re busy perfecting your baby, someone else has come along and taken the wind out of your sails.
They’ve built your idea.
Not all is lost though - is it? They’ve done it badly. The UI is average. It’s missing key features. The logo is crap. There’s no sharing involved. There’s still a chance you can release something that ticks all these boxes before they get around to it right?
Maybe. But there’s one huge problem with your plan. Even though this product is “inferior” to the one you’re building in almost every way, people like it. No, they love it. It’s been posted to Hacker news. People rave about it on Twitter. Even you use it and like it. They’ve tested the market. They’ve got a boat-load of users. And now they’re adding everything you thought it was missing to begin with.
But this won’t happen, right? I’m writing this blog post is because of Picahso. It was our pet project - Broken Picture Telephone for the iPhone. What’s Broken Picture Telephone? Check out Doodle or Die. It was made by Dylan Greene for Node Knockout. It’s simple, it’s ugly it’s looking better now and, it’s fun - so fun in fact that it won the “most fun” prize for the competition. He’s already got traction & users, and he’s now building Doodleblast as a “proper” version of his creation - for the web & mobile devices.
Picahso, is dead. Before it even hit the water.
That’s why, ladies and gentleman, you should definitely, always, ship.
p.s. This post might be crap, but at least it’s shipped :-)
^BK
