Comments on: Embrace the Concept of “Permanent Beta”

By: Living In “Permanent Beta” | Zirtual Blog - The Personal and Executive Assistant Service for Busy People

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 22:37:49 +0000

[...] wanted users to test it out. Find the problems. Work out the kinks. You know when Gmail officially ended its beta stage? 2009. Five [...]

By: Davef

Davef — Sat, 28 May 2011 14:14:00 +0000

There is, of course, another form of “permanent beta” — where a software company puts out a product that is full of bugs, refuses to listen to consumer complaints and never fixes it. Do I need to name names?

By: Jeff Goins

Jeff Goins — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 05:44:00 +0000

Loved this post. Blogging on this tomorrow, and this was great inspiration.

By: Tweets that mention Embrace the Concept of “Permanent Beta” -- Topsy.com

Tweets that mention Embrace the Concept of “Permanent Beta” -- Topsy.com — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 04:30:30 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Linda Gregersen, John Bloebaum. John Bloebaum said: Embrace the Concept of “Permanent Beta”: http://bit.ly/doCtgS [...]

By: Calin

Calin — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 08:04:39 +0000

Seth Godin had this concept of lizard brain. I also have this problem of delayed launch ’cause it ain’t perfect enough. :)

By: Joni

Joni — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 21:44:31 +0000

OK! So right at the end of your blog, there is an ad to “Follow your calling: Publish your book!” Well, I need to get off my duff and write one, but the blog and ad are perfect! Thanks :–)

By: M.P.Vijayakumar

M.P.Vijayakumar — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 13:25:43 +0000

Truly, our comments, observations and even decisions stem a permanent beta state, with out admitting that they are so. It is a small step to say so. Just wondering though, what happens to ownership !

By: Embrace The Concept of “Permanent Beta” | ProjectVirginia

Embrace The Concept of “Permanent Beta” | ProjectVirginia — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:26:55 +0000

[...] Read more at MichaelHyatt.com [...]

By: abhinav

abhinav — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 18:06:08 +0000

I'd been thinking about writing GMAT for long, but was always very apprehensive about getting the right funds and if it would really be a value add as its so expensive. But now, I've decided, let me take GMAT and get a good score, after getting the colleges, I'll decide if its a wise decision to go for it or not.

By: randysrules

randysrules — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:56:55 +0000

"Permanent Beta" - a great, healthy alternative to the all-too pervasive "Success Requires Serial Failures" meme! Thank you! :"Dare to Fail?"-BALONEY! See: http://wp.me/pVUDj-4w

By: idelette

idelette — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:26:35 +0000

I love what Seth Godin has to say on this in "Linchpin" as well: what he calls the importance of "shipping." Preaching to myself here. Thank you for this post.

By: 10 Reasons Why You Aren’t Done Yet

10 Reasons Why You Aren’t Done Yet — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 09:02:22 +0000

[...] Chesterton’s quote: “If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly.” In other words, not everything has to be perfect. Just get it out the [...]

By: David Honaker

David Honaker — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:02:12 +0000

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.

By: BookSneeze: Free Books for Bloggers

BookSneeze: Free Books for Bloggers — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 11:01:45 +0000

[...] Nelson Book Review Bloggers” doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. However, in the spirit of “permanent beta,” I wanted to get something launched rather than wait for the perfect [...]

By: Jen

Jen — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 23:35:56 +0000

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!

By: @ivospigel

@ivospigel — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:32:21 +0000

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…

By: WKevinG

WKevinG — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:28:59 +0000

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

By: John Richardson

John Richardson — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 00:38:01 +0000

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

By: John Richardson

John Richardson — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 00:38:01 +0000

By: Behind the Scenes of My Redesigned Blog

Behind the Scenes of My Redesigned Blog — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 23:26:08 +0000

[...] I have written previously, there eventually comes a time when you have to launch. That time for me is NOW. I am sure we will [...]

By: Embrace the Concept of “Permanent Beta” | Leading & Learning

Embrace the Concept of “Permanent Beta” | Leading & Learning — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:42:56 +0000

[...] View commentsComments (No Ratings Yet) Loading … [...]

By: J.R. Briggs » [17] Thoughts, links + musings » Attempting to behold the miracle long enough without falling asleep

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:06:14 +0000

[...] Michael Hyatt speaks of embracing the concept of “Permanent Beta.” As a leader, I love that [...]

By: Jordan Wiseman

Jordan Wiseman — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 02:22:36 +0000

So true…LOL….

By: Peter_P

Peter_P — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:25:02 +0000

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!

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:13:30 +0000

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

By: Meredith Morgan

Meredith Morgan — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:20:37 +0000

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.

By: Cassandra Frear

Cassandra Frear — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:29:01 +0000

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.

By: HSchiefelbein

HSchiefelbein — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:32:54 +0000

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.

By: Aaron Aiken

Aaron Aiken — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:11:45 +0000

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!

By: Aimee

Aimee — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:43:17 +0000

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?

By: davidbmclaughlin

davidbmclaughlin — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:21:30 +0000

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.

By: Stephanie Shott

Stephanie Shott — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:57:33 +0000

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.

By: Roxane B. Salonen

Roxane B. Salonen — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:34:10 +0000

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!

By: Jeannie Campbell

Jeannie Campbell — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:22:03 +0000

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!

By: Cheryl Lemine

Cheryl Lemine — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:25:26 +0000

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! :)

By: Daniel Tardy

Daniel Tardy — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:33:53 +0000

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

By: Justin

Justin — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:25:18 +0000

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.

By: SOwens

SOwens — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:49:04 +0000

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!

By: Michael Hyatt

Michael Hyatt — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:12:42 +0000

Yes, indeed. Life is a beta test. (That might make a good blog post!)

By: Michael Hyatt

Michael Hyatt — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:12:00 +0000

I didn't think about applying it to ministry, but that is a great application.

By: Michael Hyatt

Michael Hyatt — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:10:47 +0000

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!

By: Michael Hyatt

Michael Hyatt — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:08:31 +0000

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!

By: Michael Hyatt

Michael Hyatt — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:05:50 +0000

She has a lot of relatives!

By: Michael Hyatt

Michael Hyatt — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:05:37 +0000

Thanks, Mac. By the way, loved your conference. Powerful!

By: Michael Hyatt

Michael Hyatt — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:04:50 +0000

Very good point! Doctors and pilots, please disregard this post!

By: Michael Hyatt

Michael Hyatt — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:04:26 +0000

Very good point!

By: Michael Hyatt

Michael Hyatt — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:04:09 +0000

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.

By: Michael Hyatt

Michael Hyatt — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:03:20 +0000

Good. I was also preaching to myself. I really struggle with perfectionism.

By: Obihaive

Obihaive — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:34:40 +0000

Great post. The quote at the end was perfect.

By: Charmaine

Charmaine — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:16:44 +0000

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.