Almost could-be maybe beta

So much of the advice I've read from people who have been there, writing software and releasing it, has said that you should release as soon as you can. Microsoft is expert at this - getting something out the door and using versions 3 through N to relentlessly pursue your software spend.

But Apple doesn't do that, and those are the guys I'm trying to think like.

I think it's very hard to take features away from a user, so decide your features very carefully. This applies to hot-keys and user interface elements and where and how you store the data...lots of things that affect the general "vibe" of a product.

I've had to make some extremely tough decisions about things that I wanted in there - but I'm exceptionally happy that I could take them out without annoying a hundred users who downloaded/bought Tudumo because they wanted X feature. The obvious response is "if they want it, put it in" - but here's a thing:

An infinite amount of potential users
have infinite sets of preferences

Each decision you make will be supported or rejected (or ignored) by each of those users. Letting down any of those users is bad, so the instinct is to keep what's in there already (or irritate the user). This means that your users start affecting your decisions almost immediately. You add in every feature your early adopters find useful, and you end up with an application designed by a committee.

The guys at 37signals say it very well - your app should take sides. Don't build everything in there or you'll end up with nothing. That resonates with me - and Tudumo has, from the beginning, taken sides.

But there is a time when a committee is a very powerful thing. The eyes that wrote the application are rarely the eyes that will find what is wrong with it. Intuition can take you only so far, at some point someone is going to put down a few hours of minimum wage for Tudumo and my picture of what it should be, had better measure up.

So, the Committee for Tudumo World Domination (COFTWDQZ) will be recruiting soon. Meanwhile, a screenshot.