By J Aaron Farr on Tuesday, June 28, 2005
In software, having cool ideas is nice, but shipping them is what counts. For us it only counts if you have shipped the thing. That’s really the mindset we have. And given that you focus on shipping, we never want to be in a mode of always being two years away from shipping. You need to have a short-term deliverable. You also plan, decide and act with this mindset. You are very risk- aware— you know what you can do so you can still ship on time with quality.
Software creates communities and transparent development is important if you want to grow a community. Open source in particular, though, is not just about making source available under some license; it is really about building up a community. And you build a community by showing them what you’re up to, which means you make your plans visible.
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