RSSGolden Cadillacs, Beta, Or Release 1.0 Information Technology Deployments?
Zoli Erdos has a good post that assimilates his own plus additional thoughts from around the blogosphere in the context of product management releases. As an end user, Zoli takes the position that customers should have working products and neither Betas nor Release 1.0 stuff. In his words:
… but I am a Customer, too, and as
such am sick of non-working products. It's frustrating to waste
time installing, learning the damn thing when it's really just a
Beta! Give it to someone who signed up as Beta-tester, not to me,
a Customer.
Same kinds of things apply in internal information technology (IT) projects though. I have seen both ends of the spectrum for internal deployments. Too little functionality and end users give the deployment a bad wrap (if pilot deployment before rollout was not adequately scoped). Too much functionality, over-engineering to meet "future needs", and golden Cadillacs … well the system can turn out too slow or too complex to use. That is, if the system ever gets out the door.
What are your thoughts? (OK – the picture is of a black limosine … I couldn't find a picture … maybe it foreshadows that your project will turn into a hearse if you shoot for a gold Cadillac)
