exploring vs finalizing: ship ugly v1s
trying to build v2 before v1 is like proposing on the first date.
you don’t know what you’re building yet. stop pretending you do.
v1 is supposed to be ugly.
messy code. hacky solutions. zero tests. who cares?
you’re not building a cathedral. you’re sketching with crayons. embrace perfect imperfection - strategic messiness beats pristine paralysis.
the perfectionist writing unit tests for their prototype? they’ll still be “architecting” while you’re shipping v3.
v1: "does this even work?"
v1.1: "okay it works but it's terrible"
v1.2: "getting warmer"
v2: "now we know what we're building"
v1 is reconnaissance. you’re mapping unknown territory, not building highways.
save your perfectionism for v2.
that’s when you know what you’re building. that’s when tests matter. that’s when architecture counts. now you can apply system thinking because you actually understand the system.
until then? ship garbage that teaches you something.
v1: explore the jungle with a machete
v2: build the city with blueprints
stop bringing blueprints to the jungle. you’ll die before you build anything.
v1 explores. v2 executes. ship accordingly.
