BBC News, 20 January, run a story on Google’s approach to releasing products “early and often”. “We want to try things out, lots of things. Our goal is to fail fast, get the product out, and see what users like,” says Marissa Mayer, vice president of search products. This approach flies in the face of traditional product releases, where Google release a product in Beta form, knowing that 9 out of 10 products will fail. So, “Beta” has become the new mantra of failure? Read the full article here. BTW, Google have underdelivered on market expectations for 2005, read here how rain is falling on Google’s parade.
Technorati : google
The power of Beta
This is not a new approach – it is what Microsoft has been doing all along – notice how there are always bugs when they start and people bitch about the product but they seem to go away with the upgrades? It is a double edged sword – it gets you ahead, but it also gives you a bad wrap – the trick is finding the balance so that overall you stay ahead and let the others play catch up.