

Worse is Better - jpren
http://www.jwz.org/doc/worse-is-better.html

======
jpren
IMO, the "worse-is-better" approach is especially applicable to startups in
the sense that during its first few iterations, you (the founders) don't know
exactly what-to-build. Hence, the definition of "completeness" in the scope of
your product is fuzzy at best.

Once the idea of "completeness" is crystallized (based on listening to what
people want), I think that's when it's a good idea to build it right.

By "building it right", I don't mean to pay the same amount of attention to
all features for the sake of completeness. Here, I'm a proponent of the 80/20
rule. Specifically, that the important 80% of the features be implemented
first. That doesn't mean ignoring the remaining 20%, just that the rest of it
will need to be hashed out later/eventually. An 80% product is enough for a
demo/risk-loving early adopters, but ultimately customers want to pay for
90%-100% products.

