

Ship or Die - shipit
http://shippingiseverything.com/post/9429255674/ship-or-die

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refulgentis
This is negative, and I know that it's not the most socially acceptable thing
to do, but: this article typifies everything that's wrong with the fluff that
hits Hackers News sometimes.

✓ Random quote from historic/epic source ✓ Exhortations to throw caution to
the wind and just ship ✓ Gratuitous bash of unit testing ✓ Bragging about a
quick, rich, exit to a bigger company

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count
Using fancy characters to check off some made up list is just as 'fluff'.

Do you disagree with what he is saying? If so, why? Just listing shit like
that is worthless. Back your thoughts up - alternate points of view that can
be justified should be encouraged.

Just saying 'bah, this is fluff' isn't being justified here, it's just bashing
for bashings sake, on the altar of 'whats killing HN'.

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rogerjin
I agree, but to a point. In spaces where there are a ton of competitors doing
roughly the same thing, shipping too early can be fatal. The trick is finding
the balance. Entrepreneurs, take the article's advice with a grain of salt.

On the other extreme of the spectrum, some companies build a beautiful product
but wait too late to ship. I've seen these companies die without ever having
shipped.

Don't live either ends of the extreme. Ship fast, but not too fast.

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grimen
"I now spend my waking hours thinking about what am I shipping today and my
sleep about dreaming stuff I want to ship as soon as I wake up, if I don’t
ship, I might as well be dead"

That is just so sad. I agreed until that one, living for shipping makes you
live for others. What about doing things for just the casue of doing it? I
don't consider my random hacks shipping, it's just a journey on the sea (to
use the same methaphors).

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epenn
Good analogy. Reminds me of the perennial Steve Jobs quote, "real artists
ship." You can think up the greatest masterpiece the world would ever see.
However if you never actually paint it and display it, the world will never
actually see it.

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shipit
That's a great quote, glad you see it that way.

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pnathan
Yeah, I've jammed a product out the door as fast as I could do it without it
being broken.

Well, I'm still dealing with bugs and systemic design issues today. Sure, the
users are using it, but if I'd pushed back and taken the time to do a
meaningful design on it, things would be a lot more stable today.

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rwolf
I nodded along to this article and even sent it to some friends. One of them
pointed out that the tide comes twice a day, meaning that these hypothetical
sailors would be risking capsizing to avoid a 12-hour delay. I call
shenanigans.

~~~
count
I think it's meant the 'flood tide', not the lunar tide - the annual flood
tide when the rivers and streams are engorged from snow melt over the winter.

~~~
rwolf
Ha ha! This is the second time in as many hours I've thought: "I am such a
dope..."

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BasDirks
I ROFL torn between hilarity and disgust at the use of that quote. He takes
his little metaphor and stretches it until it breaks and then some. It takes
some skill to say so little with so many words.

TLDR: Shipping Ships.

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toblender
"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." Wayne Gretzky

~~~
samvelst
I never liked this quote. A missed shot implies that a shot was taken. It's
like saying you've lost every presidential election since you were born.

~~~
mikeklaas
No, it's like saying that you can be president without running for president.

You must really hate epigrams.

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hahaonlysirius
Question: Ship or Beta Test?

Have a Mac OS X productivity app nearly ready to go out the door, but my
partner and I have planned to have a dozen people or so beta test the app
first.

The reason behind this is that you only get one first impression. And if
that's "your app crashed", or worse "your app lost my work", then I feel like
that is worse than delaying a release.

~~~
count
I think beta testing is shipping. Nobody expects perfection right out of the
gate - even Apple and Google and Microsoft still get that wrong. I think the
key is getting it out of your hands, and into others, as soon as possible.
Maybe your stability won't be an issue, but something else will be? Maybe
it'll work great. Who knows until you try?

