Something has been bothering me for days now—I simply can’t remember where I read or heard the following quote:

"Your first release isn’t your product, it’s simply a way to trick your customers into talking to you."

Or some variation thereof. It has stuck with me due to its inherent truth. It sums up so succinctly what I try to explain to not only clients, but also internally to myself as I’m meticulously iterating concepts for both personal and client projects. The core of user experience design is to create amazing, incredibly easy and streamlined experiences out of the gate, but the reality in today’s economy is that budgets may not be available for extensive up-front user/market research and analysis. And even up front research pales in comparison to real users interacting with real websites or applications—issues will always be raised and new feature requests made no matter how extensive the initial discovery/planning phase. Time and money could be burned creating what is meant to be the Next Big Thing, only for it to flop and be off target since initial understanding of the target audience was off.  And that understanding could be off not only because assumptions were incorrect, but also because people can rarely articulate innovation before they see it. No potential customer told Steve Jobs the specs for the iPhone before it was built. It’s the nature of the web and technology, nothing is ever set in stone, so it is essential to embrace and plan for change.

Understanding this fluid environment is the first step in getting over First Release Anxiety, the feeling that your site or app may not be received warmly or could even hurt your brand. How can you provide an optimal experience for your customers unless the lines of communication with them are fully open? This isn’t to say that the first release should be made haphazardly, or without extensive up front design thinking and effort. On the contrary, those things are essential. But to continually re-think everything, pick and prod until deadlines are long gone and buried, is usually a waste of effort and funds. Don’t be afraid to get something out there, engage your customers and the next release will be far more on target than originally imagined.

Oh, if anyone can help me remember the source of the above quote, please chime in. Want to give credit where its due!