Just ship the software already! Have you ever felt like getting on top of your desk and shouting this phrase? Have you ever worked on the project that just wouldn’t quit? Every time I get into a situation like this I remember the story I was told about my Father’s travel trailer business.
My father was a mechanical engineer. When he was young, and I was just a baby, my dad came up with a design for a new travel trailer, and built a prototype to get a business off the ground. He got the trailer 90% complete, as I remember the story, and then came up with an even better design. Efforts then turned to building the new trailer, without completing the first. This process repeated itself until funds ran out. All that remained were a few examples of 90% complete trailers. Nothing ever shipped. I don’t know if my memory of this story is accurate or not. I do know I have experienced similar things when developing software.
I don’t think I have ever developed a tool that I didn’t come up with another idea to make things better, while in the midst of creation. The hardest thing for me is to continue executing the current plan and get something working. A working, less optimal application, is better than an optimal incomplete application.It takes real dicipline to take the better ideas, put them on the shelf, and complete the application as designed. If you don’t, you may never complete your deliverable.
Embrace the incremental release methodology. Don’t try and get everything in all in one release, or you may never ship.
Cheers,
Ben