Shipping Greatness

Chapter 13. That Was Great; Let’s Do It Again

WHEN YOU’VE BEEN THROUGH the drama, pain, and rigor of a major product development cycle, it’s easy to see only your software’s deficiencies. But if pilots can say, “The best landing is the one you walk away from,” you can say the same thing about your software. The software that ships is the best software. Shipping is the point. So what happens after you ship?

Aaron Abrams, a program manager at REI.com, says, “There are two great days for a program manager: the day you get your project and the day you ship it.” Hopefully you celebrated the day after you shipped your project (see Chapter 7). You’re now ready for the other great day—the day you get your next project.

Before you start your next project, take a step back and look at the environment around you. Software is never complete. You need to ask yourself if you should start work on V2 or start something new. At some point, you will start to experience a law of diminishing returns on your investment in a product. The investment I’m talking about is your time. Your capital, the venture capital of time, is one of the most leveraged assets you have.

If you’re any good at all—and if you can execute according to the guidance in this book, you will be—you will always have options for your next project. Consider what the options mean to your business and to you personally. It may be time to work with a new team or on a new product. Maybe you need to rebuild the product you just shipped, because ...