Fail fast.

That’s the mantra of the modern era. If you spend time on something you are stupid, useless, something.

Fail fast.

Another word for “fast” is “half-assed.” I was taught if it’s worth doing it is worth doing well. I want to play with an idea, let it formulate and bubble, let my thinking expand, show it to people, get feedback, find out I’m wrong, find out I’m right.

Do it right. Take my time.

If I move fast I miss the feedback, or interpret it incorrectly. It takes time to listen and it takes time to think.

I’ve been working on my next thing, Equals, for many moons. We started a prototype in 2011, showed off the ideas to a few, gathered feedback, almost shipped it, didn’t.

It wasn’t right.

We spent more time on giving us time than we thought we would. We needed contract work to keep going and a bit of luck with some existing contracts. We refinanced some debt to buy us more time.

We refocused. What was really missing? What was the feedback really saying? How do we build a product people are willing to pay for?

To me I don’t slap together a little code and shove it under a few people’s noses and see whether they get a disgusted look on their faces.

My code is my craft. The products I create are just that, my creation. Maybe, in the end, I’m reading the feedback incorrectly and the product won’t generate much money.

But at least I knew I put my best foot out there. I took my time to create something I’ll be proud of.

I’d prefer to fail slowly.