Ship or Die

Ship or Die(shippingiseverything.com)

42 points by shipit 14 years ago | 16 comments

refulgentis 14 years ago |

This is negative, and I know that it's not the most socially acceptable thing to do, but: this article typifies everything that's wrong with the fluff that hits Hackers News sometimes.

✓ Random quote from historic/epic source ✓ Exhortations to throw caution to the wind and just ship ✓ Gratuitous bash of unit testing ✓ Bragging about a quick, rich, exit to a bigger company

count 14 years ago | |

Using fancy characters to check off some made up list is just as 'fluff'.

Do you disagree with what he is saying? If so, why? Just listing shit like that is worthless. Back your thoughts up - alternate points of view that can be justified should be encouraged.

Just saying 'bah, this is fluff' isn't being justified here, it's just bashing for bashings sake, on the altar of 'whats killing HN'.

rogerjin 14 years ago |

I agree, but to a point. In spaces where there are a ton of competitors doing roughly the same thing, shipping too early can be fatal. The trick is finding the balance. Entrepreneurs, take the article's advice with a grain of salt.

On the other extreme of the spectrum, some companies build a beautiful product but wait too late to ship. I've seen these companies die without ever having shipped.

Don't live either ends of the extreme. Ship fast, but not too fast.

grimen 14 years ago |

"I now spend my waking hours thinking about what am I shipping today and my sleep about dreaming stuff I want to ship as soon as I wake up, if I don’t ship, I might as well be dead"

That is just so sad. I agreed until that one, living for shipping makes you live for others. What about doing things for just the casue of doing it? I don't consider my random hacks shipping, it's just a journey on the sea (to use the same methaphors).

epenn 14 years ago |

Good analogy. Reminds me of the perennial Steve Jobs quote, "real artists ship." You can think up the greatest masterpiece the world would ever see. However if you never actually paint it and display it, the world will never actually see it.

shipit 14 years ago | |

That's a great quote, glad you see it that way.

pnathan 14 years ago |

Yeah, I've jammed a product out the door as fast as I could do it without it being broken.

Well, I'm still dealing with bugs and systemic design issues today. Sure, the users are using it, but if I'd pushed back and taken the time to do a meaningful design on it, things would be a lot more stable today.

rwolf 14 years ago |

I nodded along to this article and even sent it to some friends. One of them pointed out that the tide comes twice a day, meaning that these hypothetical sailors would be risking capsizing to avoid a 12-hour delay. I call shenanigans.

count 14 years ago | |

I think it's meant the 'flood tide', not the lunar tide - the annual flood tide when the rivers and streams are engorged from snow melt over the winter.

rwolf 14 years ago | | |

Ha ha! This is the second time in as many hours I've thought: "I am such a dope..."

BasDirks 14 years ago |

I ROFL torn between hilarity and disgust at the use of that quote. He takes his little metaphor and stretches it until it breaks and then some. It takes some skill to say so little with so many words.

TLDR: Shipping Ships.

toblender 14 years ago |

"You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." Wayne Gretzky

samvelst 14 years ago | |

I never liked this quote. A missed shot implies that a shot was taken. It's like saying you've lost every presidential election since you were born.

mikeklaas 14 years ago | | |

No, it's like saying that you can be president without running for president.

You must really hate epigrams.

hahaonlysirius 14 years ago |

Question: Ship or Beta Test?

Have a Mac OS X productivity app nearly ready to go out the door, but my partner and I have planned to have a dozen people or so beta test the app first.

The reason behind this is that you only get one first impression. And if that's "your app crashed", or worse "your app lost my work", then I feel like that is worse than delaying a release.

count 14 years ago | |

I think beta testing is shipping. Nobody expects perfection right out of the gate - even Apple and Google and Microsoft still get that wrong. I think the key is getting it out of your hands, and into others, as soon as possible. Maybe your stability won't be an issue, but something else will be? Maybe it'll work great. Who knows until you try?