Release the quality you'd expect

Feb 19, 2013 misc-web programming ux

This post is more than 18 months old. Since technology changes too rapidly, this content may be out of date (but that's not always the case). Please remember to verify any technical or programming information with the current release.

Recently, I had a programmer create a new feature for one of our products. He inadvertently caused another feature of our product to look less polished and function a bit weird. (I called it ‘wonkified’). The consensus of the group was to push out the feature, and then go back and fix the broken part of the old feature in the next week or so.

I said this simply would not do. Then, I explained why in this manner:

Imagine you have been using a website that you respect and love for a year. Then, one day, a feature that you use all the time stops working. It actually isn’t working as you’d expect for 2 to 3 weeks. Finally, they get it fixed. A) what’s the likeliness of you having stayed with that website for that entire time? B) how much would you trust that website with your data after that point?

The moral of the story was simple: if you wouldn’t want something to happen to you, and that something would negatively affect your experience (and be honest with yourself), then don’t allow that to happen to your customers.