Release Frequently and Update or Hold Back & Wait?

Release Frequently and Update or Hold Back & Wait?

An internal debate I’ve been having with myself.

If you’re working on a longer-term project, should you release frequently and update as required, have the market drive development.

Or should you hold it back, wait until there’s a finished version and put it out in one go.

It’s a fun thought experiment.

Each have their benefits.

Open-source software you may want to release frequently and update as it required, fix the bugs as soon as you can.

But on the other side, maybe you’ve got software which has to do a job right every time, where bugs aren’t even an option. Software which runs planes, software which runs autonomous vehicles.

I lack in-depth hands-on experience with either of these but it’s something which has been on my mind.

The concept applies to any kind of creative work though.

The release frequently seems to be a rather new paradigm. The connected world allows, demands constant updates. Beforehand, the standard was more likely the hold back and wait. Be patient, there’s no rush, make something worthwhile.

There’s no conclusion to this post.

As you might’ve guessed, this question is open ended.

And the first answer is always, “it depends what you’re working on”. Followed by a discussion like this.