I have worked with web developers, I have managed web developers, and I understand web developers. One thing all web developers have in common - they are all perfectionists. They want to develop a perfect web site, with plenty of great features that are cool, useful and complex. And before the masterpiece is complete, they are not ready to release it into the real world. It has to be perfect.

These "Version 1.0" guys want to deliver a dream. Not surprisingly, nothing will be delivered without sales, marketing, product and project management if you leave it to web developers. Early on, these guys learn the lesson of "good enough".

Very often companies are not focused, trying to perfect everything, to fix all the bugs and unveil exactly what they promised and more. Unfortunately, these companies are as often late to market and off the mark. Theory is great, but practice still makes perfect. So today I am going to talk about the power of "good enough".

The Company That Could

Once upon a time, there was a Company where very creative web developers worked. One day these developers hit a creative block. They could not come up with anything interesting to offer their clients. To remedy the situation, they all got together and started to kick around some ideas. And they came up with a simple service that would quickly connect people, bring friends together, and create buzz around the world! They made a simple web site and invited everybody to use it.

At first, most people laughed at the Company and the simple service they offered. "This is stupid! Who would want to use this service?" - they said. But the Company did not give up. They thought that if only people knew how to use the simple service, they will see the value.

One day, the Company put up big plasma screens at a technical conference and showed everyone how fun their service could be. And all of a sudden, everybody who watched the screens, got it. And they started talking about the Company and the simple service. They connected with friends and created buzz around the world. Almost overnight, 20,000 users became 60,000 users and kept growing. In march 2010 the Company recorded a 1,500 percent user growth. And when the Company's servers went down, everybody missed the simple service so much!

Over the period of 4 years, the Company went through a lot of changes to the web site, to the service, to the technology they were initially using. The service is not as simple anymore. The servers do not go down as often as they initially did. The Company was first to market, they listened to their customers, and the world eventually convinced itself that the good enough product is perfect. Nobody even cared that Pownce and Jaiku had more features, were more flexible and attractive. Pownce closed their doors in 2008 and Jaiku was acquired by Google in 2007.

The Company's name was Twitter.

Your Web Site Stumbling Point

Ask yourself, "Why is my web site not yet live?" What are you waiting for? What perfection are you trying to achieve before your competition blows you out of the water?

If you have a new website, get it out there! Focus. And if you already have a web site, focus. Identify the most important thing for you to succeed; measure and improve that one goal. But get it done. Let your customers tell you what to change, what to improve and what to add. Be first, be imperfect but be out there with your idea and your web site.

Web sites are complex. Unless you have a huge budget, you are not going to get everything perfectly. So what? It has to be good enough. You will learn through testing. And you will learn quickly in the trenches vs. the lab.

It does not matter how good your product is. What matters is who is there first and who is playing catch-up. Good enough is always better than nothing.

Next: The Power of Good Enough - Part 2