Comments on: Aim for Excellence http://www.yuwantitwhen.com/blog/2008/04/01/aim-for-excellence/ Practical methods for successful software management. Thu, 06 May 2010 02:07:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Bill Miller http://www.yuwantitwhen.com/blog/2008/04/01/aim-for-excellence/comment-page-1/#comment-334 Bill Miller Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:06:44 +0000 http://www.yuwantitwhen.com/blog/?p=45#comment-334 Hi Ray, You make an excellent point, and there are certainly trade-offs that need to be made in the interest of hitting the market timely as you correctly recommend. My objection is with the criteria good enough. It’s nebulous, and it doesn’t have enough fidelity to make good product decisions. One person’s good enough is another’s bad, and still another’s excellent. Finally good enough may not be enough to beat your competitor no matter how timely, so we need to frame our criteria in language and objectives that focus on how to win in the marketplace. Our behaviors resemble the words we use, and when a team is thinking in words good enough, I believe it morphs into mediocrity and poor products: products nobody gets excited about. Hi Ray,

You make an excellent point, and there are certainly trade-offs that need to be made in the interest of hitting the market timely as you correctly recommend.

My objection is with the criteria good enough. It’s nebulous, and it doesn’t have enough fidelity to make good product decisions. One person’s good enough is another’s bad, and still another’s excellent. Finally good enough may not be enough to beat your competitor no matter how timely, so we need to frame our criteria in language and objectives that focus on how to win in the marketplace.

Our behaviors resemble the words we use, and when a team is thinking in words good enough, I believe it morphs into mediocrity and poor products: products nobody gets excited about.

]]> By: Ray Koscinski http://www.yuwantitwhen.com/blog/2008/04/01/aim-for-excellence/comment-page-1/#comment-333 Ray Koscinski Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:14:04 +0000 http://www.yuwantitwhen.com/blog/?p=45#comment-333 We should be careful to not confuse Good Enough releases with Good Enough products. By this I mean that there are windows of opportunity and if you miss your window you miss your market no matter how great the product is. It is in these situations where you need to make ‘good enough’ early releases to get your foot in the door. Then in subsequent releases you strive for the best you can be because if you don’t chances are someone else will be just good enough to beat you. We should be careful to not confuse Good Enough releases with Good Enough products. By this I mean that there are windows of opportunity and if you miss your window you miss your market no matter how great the product is. It is in these situations where you need to make ‘good enough’ early releases to get your foot in the door. Then in subsequent releases you strive for the best you can be because if you don’t chances are someone else will be just good enough to beat you.

]]> By: Steve Johnson http://www.yuwantitwhen.com/blog/2008/04/01/aim-for-excellence/comment-page-1/#comment-281 Steve Johnson Wed, 02 Apr 2008 12:53:25 +0000 http://www.yuwantitwhen.com/blog/?p=45#comment-281 Great post. Thanks! Companies should strive to create remarkable products and experiences. Those companies--and employees--who do 'just enough to get by' will never create products that delight customers. Companies who sweat the details are companies that build great products. Great post. Thanks!

Companies should strive to create remarkable products and experiences. Those companies–and employees–who do ‘just enough to get by’ will never create products that delight customers. Companies who sweat the details are companies that build great products.

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