I've learned that the biggest mistake in product development is over-planning and under-shipping. Planning feels productive, but it's often just a way to avoid the hard work of building and the scary prospect of real feedback.
The best products I've seen were the ones where we shipped early and often. When you ship, you learn. When you plan, you guess. And guessing is rarely as good as learning.
Real Feedback
When you ship, you get feedback from real users with real problems. This feedback is infinitely more valuable than any planning or speculation about what users might want.
Faster Learning
Shipping early means learning early. Every day you spend planning is a day you're not learning from actual user behavior. The fastest way to improve is to ship and iterate.
Momentum
Shipping creates momentum. It keeps the team engaged, shows progress to stakeholders, and builds confidence. Planning can create the illusion of progress without actual progress.
Clarity
Shipping reveals what you don't know. It shows you the gaps in your understanding and forces you to make decisions. Planning can hide these gaps behind assumptions.
The Shipping Mindset
Shipping isn't about being reckless, it's about being honest about what you don't know. When you ship, you acknowledge that you're making assumptions and commit to learning from real feedback.
The best teams I've seen ship early and often. They understand that the goal isn't to be perfect, it's to be better than yesterday. And the fastest way to get better is to ship and learn.
A Personal Reflection
I used to think that good planning led to good products. Now I think that good shipping leads to good products. Planning can help, but it's no substitute for real feedback from real users.
The most successful projects I've seen were the ones where we shipped early and often. When you ship, you learn. When you plan, you guess. And guessing is rarely as good as learning.
Exploring new ideas? Me too.
I’m always curious about early-stage projects, especially the ones that move fast, test early, and aim to solve something real.