One weird thing about success is that it’s really only the success part that is visible; whatever lead that to that success is rarely visible and even if it is, it’s simply not as exciting.
I recently watched this video; it’s the Mad Men’s intro music with lyrics from Nature Boy. It’s really lovely and as a fan of the show, it’s very enjoyable for me. And fascinatingly, it’s all shot in one take.
Well, arguable. It is one take but instead it is take 29 of that day, apparently. You could very well argue that it took them 28 takes (and quite a bit of luck) to get that one take so perfect.
So that’s the thing, good stuff rarely just happens; you just have to work your way through all the shitty parts until you get it. Of course, there’s a fine balance between “shipping it” and “getting it right”[1]. However, the point I am trying to make it is that whichever methodology you go by, the first few iterations is probably going to suck.
This also kind of illustrates how as a culture, of which I am of course a part of, we really value fancy, shiny things more than the work that goes into it. Maybe I am extrapolating here too liberally but every time someone complains about a “small bug” on their favorite website or a “stupid issue”, a little part of me dies on the inside. But then, from a user’s perspective, that is what it is. When you are trying to deliver an experience, each bug is something that takes away part of the magic.
It’s a hard life.
1: In fact, I’d argue that in the world of web applications, it’s probably the biggest dilemma people face.