Thursday, March 6

Release early, release often, business edition

One of the things we preach as software developers is release early, release often. I think ESR is right in that our primary motivation for this is often related to quality:

In the bazaar view, on the other hand, you assume that bugs are generally shallow phenomena—or, at least, that they turn shallow pretty quickly when exposed to a thousand eager co-developers pounding on every single new release. Accordingly you release often in order to get more corrections, and as a beneficial side effect you have less to lose if an occasional botch gets out the door.

As I've done more project consulting and management, I've realized that the benefits extend well beyond the technical ones. But I've had a difficult time articulating the business benefits to incremental, frequent releases.

Last week, Ross posted an article that describes one of the primary business benefits to frequent, early releases, Minimising the Speculative Risk of IT Investments:

With each incremental delivery, and every increase in tangible value, the intangible or speculative value decreases. The reduction in speculative value at risk represents a reduction in the total value that can be depressed through delays in delivery. Thus, early delivery reduces the risk of speculative value not being realised. Simultaneously, it reduces the volatility of returns.

What other benefits do you find to the business from releasing early, releasing often?

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