Building products is so much fun—at the same time, it’s equally exhausting and challenging with so many peers to work with, the market needs to look into, and a lot of processes to go by. While frameworks and techniques can be compelling to share, they are hard to standardize for different software teams and their cultures. So what are some ways to navigate these complexities and build better software?
Allen Holub, an internationally recognized software architect and consultant, and I recently chatted about the ways product teams can work on small experiments and ship things iteratively so there's value and impact. One of the things we debated on is the whole 'fail fast' approach—of course, the phrase still holds a good meaning, but often the context of why we do it is lost. Allen goes on to share how 'fail fast' is increasingly equated with reckless building, and what to do to avoid that.