There's massive caveat with all of these "and then the story ends because we didn't just ship it :(" stories: sometimes the value of the "app" you're working on is in the technical details that cannot really be "hastened" and you can't "just ship it". Also, and this is something a lot of the managerial class people don't want to hear: Your job as a sw engineer/architect is to resist the "just ship it" pressure from t…
The saddest "Just Ship It" story ever (2020)
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Re: The saddest "Just Ship It" story ever (2020)
#62There's massive caveat with all of these "and then the story ends because we didn't just ship it :(" stories: sometimes the value of the "app" you're working on is in the technical details that cannot really be "hastened" and you can't "just ship it". Also, and this is something a lot of the managerial class people don't want to hear: Your job as a sw engineer/architect is to resist the "just ship it" pressure from t…
In corporation setup, you always have a manager and peers that push you. You have periodic meetings with team/manager whatever to show what you have done, and then, depending on company setup, it's quality vs speed discussion. But that's very different from being all alone with your code and computer trying to build something from the grou up.
Re: The saddest "Just Ship It" story ever (2020)
#63Isn't this more a lesson of keeping your cards close to your chest? There's a very good reason why people are on guard with pitch decks. Cause those very people you pitched could just take the idea and throw money at it.
Re: The saddest "Just Ship It" story ever (2020)
#64Re: The saddest "Just Ship It" story ever (2020)
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'll give you any one of 3 or 4 ideas right now, if you want them. They're ideas I'd develop if I had the time, energy and brainpower. I've got personal connections for you too, if you want them, people who need the product. I won't even ask 50%, heck, 5% sounds fine by me. My experience has been that, while that is useful, it's by no means sufficient to lead to a complete and useful tool. But I'd absolutely take tha…
The ideas are important, but remember the idea guy also was to run the company. That's a ton of work, too. In any event, while I appreciate the offer, I'm now too old and domesticated to work on it. I guess my comment should have said I'd have loved to met someone like that in my early 20s, when I had more free time and my brain worked better :).
Re: The saddest "Just Ship It" story ever (2020)
#66Re: The saddest "Just Ship It" story ever (2020)
#67There's massive caveat with all of these "and then the story ends because we didn't just ship it :(" stories: sometimes the value of the "app" you're working on is in the technical details that cannot really be "hastened" and you can't "just ship it". Also, and this is something a lot of the managerial class people don't want to hear: Your job as a sw engineer/architect is to resist the "just ship it" pressure from t…
> Unless you have a stake in the company, it is NOT your job to make sure the company is the most profitable it can be. Maybe. But... > Your job is to create great software. No. Your job is to do what the company pays you for. The company is not paying you to create great software. It's paying you to solve some kind of business problem or provide some kind of business service. Some of those problems or services do in…
Yes and no. Ultimately, your solution will live on after you. Even if theres no way for it to backfire publicly, your coworkers and future employees have to deal with it. It can absolutely ruin your reputation and cost you future employment. Admittedly its much easier for a contractor to draw a red line, but I had done this as far back as my first full time IT job, setting boundaries with the owner of that business as to what is and is not practical and achievable.
Re: The saddest "Just Ship It" story ever (2020)
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm sorry that happened to you. The comments here are generally high quality and I've learned quite a lot from them, but there are things I've learned from experience that go against conventional wisdom here. Although not as drastic a case as yours, I think it's often worth being critical of what one reads here and keeping one's ideals until actual experience makes one incline one way or the other.
I would say if you take hacker news advice about what works, you're a bit of a fool. HN readers are in the pool of people who would be your competition.
Re: The saddest "Just Ship It" story ever (2020)
#69People are always like "why don't you just ship your app?" ... so I did!
I'm happy I went through with and it's way WAY better than any competitor in this category
Check it out at https://benji.so (landing page is still w.i.p)
Re: The saddest "Just Ship It" story ever (2020)
#70I feel this deep in my bones. I worked on a long while back because I wanted to scratch an itch, and I thought that some of the problems I was seeing, hey, maybe someone else was having them too. So I start kinda-sorta-half-heartedly exploring the idea, writing some pilot code, then I discovered hacker news. And oh boy did people have things to say about the general problem, it's impossible to solve, no one should wa…
You don't need to be first or second, esp. if you're a small player. You can still win some market share over time (and it doesn't need to be small compared to what you would achieve if you would be first as the market is now bigger). Make it helpful to people who find the established solutions lacking on features or workflows that could be better.
In other words, when is it the right time to ship? With a good product, at any time. Does it matter that there are already multiple established players? Not really, you can always come up with a better version.