09 July 2012

Version 1.0

This article from Matt Buchanan at Buzzfeed is framed as advice for consumers, but the important lesson is for tech product and service companies. Yes, you should start by releasing the “minimum viable product”, but that product must in fact be viable. If you find yourself saying “sure this stinks, but we are just releasing it as the 1.0 version”, you're doing it wrong. You won't be able to fix it.

“Just wait for the update” or “just wait for the apps” or “there's more launching soon” has became so pervasive that when I was at Gizmodo we had a badge for it in reviews. Do you know how many products I reviewed that evolved past the “half baked” status into “must buy”? None. Ever. Ever.

Via Daring Fireball.

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