This is in no way an argument for sloppy production. No! Not in the least! But most times in the production process, we focus on developing a ‘perfect product’ and would not settle for ‘good enough.’ This process could take months and then months turn into years, still we would fail to show our products in whatever state of quality they are to the people that will have a say about the prospects of the products, the customers.

As professionals, we are trained to always deliver the best quality possible and quality today means reliability, design, ease of use, aesthetic appeal, convenience and a lot more. But think about it - if you do not know who the customer is, you do not know what quality is. This should make Eric Ries’ idea of ‘iterative product’ more appealing than a ‘perfect product.’ Yes, this is another chunk from the robust ‘lean startup’ methodologies.

Perfect product is a farce; none exists. But an iterative product is one, which, starting with an MVP (Minimum Viable Product), goes through an ‘experimental journey’ with you, and which evolves along with the taste of the consumers.

The MVP is a version of your product that enables you to collect the maximum amount of ‘validated learning’ with least effort. It introduces a different form of dynamism to product development. To get the best out of your MVP, prepare a list of hypotheses, questions to be answered by the feedback from the early adopters once the product is released into market.

The following are clues:

What will the customer care about? How will they define quality? Is the product being patronized by the hypothetical target market? What are the put-offs of the product? Is the product appropriately priced?

This will keep you ahead of competitors who are possibly waiting to perfect their product or improve it beyond yours. Google map is a good example of this.

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http://www.excellaid.com.ng/blog/reasons-to-ditch-perfectionism-in-the-production-process