A while back, I met with a friend who is a blogger. She has been blogging for a few years, but her blog is in desperate need of a facelift. It has grown a little “long in the tooth,” as they say. I have been meaning to speak to her about his, but she brought it up herself.
“I am redesigning my blog,” she mentioned. She then showed me a prototype. I was flabbergasted. It looked … great! It was a hundred times better than what she currently has.
Truly wowed, I asked, “So when does it launch?”
“I don’t know,” she replied. “I still have some changes to make.”
A little suspicious, I asked, “How long have you had it at this level?”
“Months,” she admitted.
“What?!” I exclaimed. “This is way better than what you have now,” I blurted out. “Just launch it!”
Unfortunately, many people get stuck in this kind of no-man’s land. They want it perfect before they share it with the world. The problem is that they are missing scores of opportunities by waiting. Instead, they should get used to the concept of “permanent beta.”
As you probably know, “beta testing” is that stage of software development when companies roll out a version of their product for a wider audience. The premise is this: “we know it’s not perfect, but it’s far enough along that we need your input to get it right.”
The wide-spread use of beta testing has conditioned consumers to think of it as a permanent state. Gmail, for example, was released to the public in March 2004. It didn’t officially exit beta status until July 7, 2009. That’s a five-year beta test!
Software is never perfect; this is why there continue to be upgrades and bug fixes. Everything improves over time—and it does so faster when more users see it and have the opportunity to provide input.
Just because the Gmail beta test ended it did not mean that Google finally had everything right. After the test ended, GMail suffered a major outage. But most people are okay with that. Or, if not, they get over it quickly. Users would rather have something now than perfection later.
When I post to my own blog, for example, I know there are likely errors in what I have written. But no matter how many times I read and re-read my posts, I can’t see them. Instead, I post them as-is, and my brother-in-law, Jack Parsons, proofs them after they go live. He emails me the errors he finds.
It doesn’t have to be this way. As the CEO of a book publishing company, I have numerous editors available to assist me. I could run my posts by them before putting them up on my blog. I could also submit them to our lawyers for legal review. I could even have our marketing people have a look.
But if I followed that process, I would never post anything. Instead, I have embraced the concept of permanent beta. I launch and then tweak. This is the pattern.
As G.K. Chesterton once famously said, “If something is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.” In other words, the point of absolute perfection never comes. Too often, this is just an excuse for procrastination.
Building Champions has been coaching me since 2002. They have taught me to be more proactive and intentional in both my business and personal life. Visit their Web site to learn more and see their special offer for my blog readers.
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Exactly. Love that quote at the end.
Great post. Truth is, our lives are all in a state of permanent beta testing. Funny how we are so hesitant to extend that to our work. Sometimes — even most of the time — we need to just get out there and make it happen. Thanks for the reminder, Michael.
Yes, indeed. Life is a beta test. (That might make a good blog post!)
Agree 100%. Seeking perfection is an unattainable illusion that stops many of us from doing great things. Perfection is also subjective. What I think is perfection could be riddled with imperfections to others. It's the DOING that matters most.
It has been the Microsoft model for 20 years – and they seem to have found a certain amount of success.
So true…LOL….
Outstanding post – relevant for the micro world of blogs, ideas, and so on. Perhaps more relevant for the macro world of the church. Our content is priceless and purpose is extremely important – but we allow internal struggles for perfection and the fear of beta (getting it all right) to get in the way of ministry and missions.
Thanks for the reflection and encouragement.
I didn't think about applying it to ministry, but that is a great application.
Love the Chesterton quote. I’ll put your, “Users would rather have something now than perfection later,” right up there with it. ch:
Someone sent me a great Gen. George Patton quote: "A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week." Love it!
A great reminder to just get it done! I suffer from reading and re-reading before I send an e-mail and then sometimes just delete it thinking that the right words will come along later. I end up getting behind and frustrated. Thanks for the encouragement!
Site is looking really great, Michael. Love your branding direction as well.
Rick
Nicely put…it caused me to reflect…
Perfection is too illusive. We aim for it and strive for it and yet rarely, if ever, catch it.
21st century thinking changes our perspective and allows us to be imperfect…to launch in beta, knowing we can improve it as we move along the journey. And it also acknowledges that in a rapidly changing world, the day may come to discard it before perfection is ever attained.
In the face of a tsunami, you don't have a lot of time to figure out a strategy, The only thing you know for sure is that standing still is not a good option!
And with the march of ebooks and even POD we could place book content into the same beta category. The barrier to "new editions" just gets lower and lower (until it hits zero ref. Anderson's "Free" which I did buy!).
I think that blogger you spoke might have been my twin sister.
She has a lot of relatives!
GREAT post Mike. A little too close to home, and I'm grateful.
Thanks, Mac. By the way, loved your conference. Powerful!
When I am sewing a quilt or garb, a hobby I enjoy but am not even close to expert at doing, I often say to myself as I hold the sissors ready to make the first cut in my 5 yards of fabric or the first stitch to attach the sleeve (that always seems too big) to the shoulder hole (that always seems too small)–"Just do it!"
I did not realize I was beta-testing. <grin> Thanks for a new way to look at how to get over the hump of wanting things "perfect."
That's great advice. One of the Websites I manage has gotten severely behind because I've been waiting until I could do it perfectly before going live. But, even a perfectionist like me has to just bite the bullet sometimes and dive in!
Love this! View it, then do it! If grass grows under our feet, opportunity after opportunity just pass us by.
This post is encouraging in that I find myself currently always tweaking something on the design of my current blog! There are times I feel I'll never make an end. But you are right, constant state of Beta is a place I should be comfortable in. I'm going to do a personal blog and I was concerned about living a life of tweaking with 2 blogs. But I'm going to sit down and JUST DO IT!
Great perspective. For the great majority of products and services, getting something out and tweaking it as you go has a lot of merit. However, when it comes to airplanes and medical products, I might set the standards higher.
Very good point!
Very good point! Doctors and pilots, please disregard this post!
This is a good word: change is dynamic and permanent in our lives, especially online. I was also encouraged at what you said about having editors, advisers etc who "could" review your blog. I just post mine, too. I appreciate your saying that, as I have no staff and often wonder if I "should" try to perfect mine more. My hunch was to do what you do. I will continue!
Thanks, Bob
The funny thing is that two people found errors in this original post. They assumed it was intentional. Ha! I wish I were that smart.
This is a concept that is hard for some of us baby boomers to grasp but you've inspired me to give my self some room to go with things that I
might not see as perfect. As a long ago proof reader and curriculum typist at the Methodist Publishing House I was taught to aim for perfect–my job depended upon it–so this has come along with me throughout my life. Time to break out of the strive for perfection and as someone said "just do it". There, I said it. Thanks for this post Mr. Hyatt.
Good. I was also preaching to myself. I really struggle with perfectionism.
Great post. The quote at the end was perfect.
Personally, I need to heed these words.
Professionally, I’m having a harder time grasping how P-beta can be incorporated without detriment to my purpose – to deliver a better product faster. In my world, various pieces and parts have to come together, from various sources, to manufacture an end product. If these pieces and parts are submitted with known errors or with outstanding decisions to be made, there surely will time lost, costs accumulated, and potential errors made.
It is challenging to think about how we could balance the concept of P-Beta with the ultimate goal of delivering WOW.
I am curious about other thoughts along these lines. Thanks!
Good point. Of course the beta attitude also translates into a willingness to accept input and tweak what could/should be better. Whereas if we ever get around launch something we've decided is perfect, our openness to criticism and change wanes dramatically. Not good.
Mike, I love this because this is my style to just pull the trigger and roll with it. BUT how do you balance this with this Tweet you sent: I just read Five Grammar Mistakes That Can Make You Sounds Like a Chimp (via @CopyBlogger) http://bit.ly/ZdaeO
Permanent beta testing – the idea is scary to some of us who come from editing backgrounds.
In journalism school, each typo cost me a letter grade on a story. While that kind of grading does teach one to develop an eye for detail, I confess that I'm scarred after being OUT OF SCHOOL for 25 years.
I'm so glad I read your post because now I have given myself permission to stop messing around with blog design and launch.
I am free. Thanks, Michael! :)
i had been sitting on my book proposal for a few weeks after it was requested at a conference. i told myself i was trying to get it perfect. eventually, though, i just had to send it out…and yes, i found a mistake THAT DAY. but at least it's done!
This is great. I'm glad to know I follow the same method as you, only I don't have a brother-in-law to proof my work. I just see it later, then make the changes. I think there is a little more leeway with blogging; people know we're mostly on the fly. But I still cringe when I see those typos! I agree with you though — beta all the way!
Your blog made me feel much better about my "after post" corrections. However, I've found that the not so perfect approach may work for blogs, but it's not the best approach for new writers who are seeking publication. So, maybe it's all relative.
Well I couldnt agree more! My own "new" blog goes live 01.01.2010 but has been online since July 12, 2009. I have a few special treats to roll out in 2010 but I have been getting things rolling for months now.
Awesome past! I never revize anything i rite. I just let the Holy Sprite guide my words. Don’t get off at Petrification station! lunch yourself from the courage platfoam! Get out there peeple! Don’t hold bach.
…On a serious note – those of us as-yet-unpublished and ‘doing our research’ in the industry hit the opposite advice constantly: “polish ’til it shines!”, “don’t be in a hurry”, “professionalism is key – don’t undersell yourself!”, “agents / editors want to see quality not quantity”, etc, etc, etc, ad nauseum.
Do you have any advice on where to draw the line? I’m not scared to submit. But I want to honor God with any submission I make. To do that realistically and wisely is a process. I’ve so far spent more months revising and researching than I did writing. I have a published author critiquing for me who is highlighting issues I wouldn’t have seen without her practiced eye. But she’s not going to do that for the next draft…
From the outside looking in it seems like I’m only going get one shot at this. How do I know when enough is enough?
This is a point that my wife is continually pounding into my head. If I'm being honest, I'm a perfectionist. I'll sit on something, an idea, a product, a service, for months and then eventually give up. Last week she came into my office and lit a fire under me for a project I have been sitting on for a while. I have worked tirelessly to launch it and will complete it tomorrow. This is a first for me! And a relief! It's exciting to see something that has existed only in my Moleskine jump to life! Sure, it'll have issues, and I'm sure hiccups along the way, but nothing that can't be fixed! Jason Fried from 37signals says that "Inspiration is perishable." It has an expiration date and will go bad if you don't act on it NOW!
Great post!
Michael – there's a lot of application in this post for me. Perfectionism can really hold people back from good things; it can even hold people back from moving forward at all! Wonderful insight in this post.
Oh, I like this so much. It encourages me more than you could possibly know. I am a perfectionist, plus-plus-plus. But I am learning through blogging to just push the baby out the door and send her to school. It's never going to be easy, but I AM getting better at it with practice.
I groan when I see those errors, the next day or the next week. Arghhh! Aloud. I proof my posts and one other person does it, too. But the errors still get through somehow.
I have been toying with various ideas for soft launches for books — incremental publishing, I call it. But it's hard to decide to pull the trigger.
Beta testing a good tonic for a stick-in-the-mud-quality-control-diva like me.
This is an interesting idea, and merits thought. Beta acknowledges its own inadequacies. It invites collaboration. That is good.
On the other hand, it could be an excuse for sloppiness, and premature release of a product before it is as good as it needs to be.
The trick is finding the point on the spectrum where a product is good enough without getting bogged down in perfectionism.
I work professionally managing the computer systems for a (very) small
specialty publishing company (Craft and hobby magazines, approx 6
titles). Our policy as regards software releases is almost the precise
opposite of what you have recommended. We generally try to stay at
least one to two version numbers behing the "bleeding edge" of
operating systems or major-brand software.
Our reasons?
(1) The new stuff rarely works right even once it's out of Beta. Why
buy into such grief? Let the early adopters find the bugs on their
dime, not ours. A couple of years into the product it will probably
have been through several cycles of bug fix releases and be reasonably
stable.
(2) The features in the new releases are rarely compelling for the
software needs of a small enterprise. New releases of software are
often largely about cosmetics, and have more to do with income stream
for the vendor than useful functionality for the customer.
(3) We often find that user interfaces are changed arbitrarily,
perhaps because somebody on the development team decided the user base
was bored and needed some pizazz in their life.
Believe me, it's hard enough to get our users to work correctly with
the older stuff, let alone trying to teach them the latest and
greatest menu rearrangement.
So, for example, we are standardized on Word 97, and are in the
process of upgrading the last of our Win 98 equipment to Win XP.
So, no permanent Beta here. We operate more on permanent "End of Life Cycle".
Read my lips. Newer is not automatically better. It is often worse.
Permanent Beta is another way of saying "permanent state of nothing
working right".
-Steve
I've been trying to write a comment for this post but I can't quite find the right words… I'll come back and post my comment when I've perfected it!
Back when I started blogging in 2005, there were about a dozen good templates for Wordpress and about three that would work for my blog. I used to change templates in just a few minutes. Now there are hundreds, with all sorts of plugins, widgets, and SEO hacks. With that many choices, its hard to make any choice at all. If you have a current blog with lots of posts, It can take days to change things over if you move to one of the more advanced templates.
I've been following your changeover and I'm impressed. You actually took it down for four days and brought it up with nary a hiccup. It was nice of you to blog about the conversion and the time you had to spend modifying pictures etc.
I will be updating soon,but this time I want to bring someone on board like you did that knows Wordpress inside and out. It like hiring an editor to edit your book… they see things that you can't.
Thanks for the inspiration!
My recent post Set a 12 Week Goal
Back when I started blogging in 2005, there were about a dozen good templates for Wordpress and about three that would work for my blog. I used to change templates in just a few minutes. Now there are hundreds, with all sorts of plugins, widgets, and SEO hacks. With that many choices, its hard to make any choice at all. If you have a current blog with lots of posts, It can take days to change things over if you move to one of the more advanced templates.
I've been following your changeover and I'm impressed. You actually took it down for four days and brought it up with nary a hiccup. It was nice of you to blog about the conversion and the time you had to spend modifying pictures etc.
I will be updating soon,but this time I want to bring someone on board like you did that knows Wordpress inside and out. It like hiring an editor to edit your book… they see things that you can't.
Thanks for the inspiration!
My recent post Set a 12 Week Goal
Uh, thank you. I needed that. In the worst way. I have become paralyzed too many times hoping and praying that I've gotten everything perfect. Often, I never get around to getting it done at all. Being a geek and a developer and a blogger…well, when I actually get around to it…I can totally appreciate this concept of permanent beta. Even more so as a human being in need of grace. God is faithful and He will complete the work, He will remove the "beta" label on my life. I love this verse. http://read.ly/Phil1.6.MSG
I mostly disagree with this post. Yes – perfecting things to death can be an excuse for procrastinating… although Apple has done quite well with Jobs insisting that the Mac, iPod, iPhone etc. etc. be "perfect".
But regarding software, from my point of view the GMail case is a case where an extremely popular and powerful company can afford to keep a free product in beta for years. It's more a case of avoiding "formal responsibility" and being unwilling to *really* stand by your product than anything else. Of course Google can afford to behave like that – but most smaller software companies would – and should – get beaten over the head for that.
When the product is ready for prime time it needs to *ship*, not be in "beta" for years. That doesn't mean it doesn't evolve and change over time, far from that. It also doesn't mean procrastination or lack of innovation or anything like that – it simply means responsibility for your product towards your customers. As long as it's in beta, you can always say – if anything goes wrong – "Dude – we didn't make any guarantees. This is a beta product."
When I asked some Google folks directly about this GMail (in my opinion) fiasco, they mumbled something about "constant innovation". Pure BS, if you ask me.
So – keep it in beta while it's in beta. And when you're ready to stand by it – "ship" it or take it out of beta or whatever your distribution model is. Just – please – don't keep it in beta for years…
I just launched an utterly skeletal blog site for the very same reason: if I waited until I had it all how I want it, I would never do anything with it!
There's balance in everything of course, and premature actions can get you in a lot of trouble in some cases. But it many times we just need to do SOMETHING, and worry about the details as we go.
Good post!
This is an excellent point. There will always be mistakes and flaws in everything we do. This reminds me of a comment made by an ancient American historian-prophet who wrote on the plate that were later translated as the "Book of Mormon, Another Witness of Jesus Christ" when he said, "And I said unto him, Lord: the Gentiles will mock at these things, because of our weakness in writing; for Lord thou hast made us mighty in word by faith, but thou hast not made us mighty in writing; for thou hast made all this people that they could speak much, because of the Holy Ghost which thou hast given them."
Probably no other book in history has gone through as much scrutiny as the Book of Mormon. There are those who look for any little error (as they perceive it). Yet, the book was written anciently by many people and translated and published in our day and now accepted world-wide by many millions.
Had the original authors decided to not go ahead because it was not absolutely perfect, and had it not been published in our day because this word or that word wasn't translated exactly or the printer back in the 1830s might have made a mistake (and he made many) when type-setting the pages for print, we would have lost a treasure.