By the time I had heard about the BYU Mobile App Competition I had missed the registration deadline by a day, but I was still permitted to compete. The registration deadline was also the first day applications could be published. A principle from Eric Steven Raymond’s article enabled me to be successful despite the time constraint. “Release early. Release often. And listen to your customers.” This was essential to my success. Two weeks after the start date I released a very basic beta version of my application (Cat Bird and Worms). Every change I made was published as an update and the feedback of the users directed my programming. Although the final product of the application was still basic it had became an addicting game with a large user base. Releasing early and often, while listening to user feedback, allowed my simple application to become a winning one.
I believe that one other important truth to this equation is quality. Whatever you release must meet certain levels of quality. If you regularly release buggy systems, even if you are fixing previous bugs but introducing new ones, you will quickly loose any advantage you had by releasing early and often.
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