Life is in Perpetual Beta, So Why Not Business?

Life is a perpetual beta.

In childhood, you're in alpha mode. You're just trying to find your footing, much like a technology product that's got lots of bugs.

From adolescence onwards, you're in a perpetual beta mode. As an adult you're constantly learning new skills and capabilities, even as you age. The best and brightest among us are constantly growing. As a human being, you really don't "ship" (as the technology parlance goes) until you're dead.

Everyone accepts that you are not perfect. You're allowed to make mistakes - hopefully not too many of them, but enough to learn and grow.

In business, however, the total opposite is true. Nobody wants to see a product or service learn and grow in the open, or worse, fail.

When a company releases a product or service, everyone wants, no expects it to be perfect. Who wants to fly a plane that doesn't reach it's final destination? Who wants to go to a restaurant where the service is always iffy? We constantly insist on perfection. However, the irony is businesses are made of people so how can they be perfect?

This week Apple, a company that certainly strives for perfection, launched a new beta version of its Safari Web browser. It's buggy on both the Mac and Windows and lots of people are grumpy. It even broke several of my Dashboard widgets.

Yet, Apple, as a technology company, seems to be allowed to make such mistakes. They are permitted to learn and grow out in the open by slapping the "beta" label on products and services. Everyone else, however, is expected to be perfect. That's like asking Curt Schilling to pitch a perfect game every outing. It's ludicrous.

Business, however, is evolving. In the new Web 2.0 landscape where everyone is connected, more and more companies will open kimono start to talk about their products and services before they even ship - and collaborate with their audiences in the process.

As business opens their communications, they will learn as will consumers that it's ok not to be constantly perfect - though certain things (like planes that fly) will remain non-negotiable.

Web 2.0 will facilitate openness and collaboration with consumers and hopefully soon business too will be able to operate in beta mode to a certain degree, just like humans and technology. PR will play a valuable role here.

Comments

[Mike Morabito]

Thanks, this is really encouraging.

-Mike

[Karsten Füllhaas]

It's okay to publish beta-versions of software products. Althought the safari browser is clearly labeld as beta, apple should have warned people that it still has major flaws like not displaying the text of a website. Beta versions are fine, but the safari for windows is an early alpha at best. i don't think they will succeed in winning over a lot of windows users in this way.

[Henry]

Apple's goal is not to get people to switch to Safari, their goal is to get developers to start building apps for Safari, which will work on the iPhone. Is it any coincidence, they announced the availability of Safari at the same time they announced 3rd party apps will work on the iPhone within Safari?

[The Aesthetic Elevator]

Process over product, said Da Vinci.

[Andy Lark]

Have you tried using Safari on Windows? It's unuseable on three machines I have installed it on. There is a vast difference between beta and useable software that the mainstream user can test. Until it gets to that stage, tech companies have a responsibility to not to unleash broken software riddled with security holes onto the unwitting public (or Enterprises for that matter). That's not what Apple's brand or product promise is.

To use your analogy - we don't let very young children play on highways or roads. We wait until they are tested, ready and mature enough before unleashing them on the world.

[johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy)]

"Life is in perpetual beta." ... NICE LINE. I'll probably play that card sometime somewhere.

[David Binkowski]

Steve,
I think you're getting too granular on this one. The software development testing and life cycle do not emulate most businesses, and certainly not most products. Try telling the pharmaceutical company that their drug can remain in beta mode while being released to the general public and watch how many lawsuits are filed within seconds because it's unsafe. Hit the local restaurant and ask for the item on the menu that's in "beta". Yuck.

The analogy of Schilling throwing a perfect game emulates my point: One aspect of the browser, say the UI, could be flawless. A perfect game, if you will... but if the parking at the stadium is flawed (overpriced, disorganized, difficult), the hot dogs are raw and the bathrooms are filthy then it's hardly a great overall experience - much like Safari.

Dave

[David Brain]

It's not that new a phenomena Steve. Maybe ten years ago Sony had a similar reputation in consumer hardware. Their brand appeal (and I worked on this at their ad agency) was to be the world's "visionary entertainer". They were the ones who had brought us new categories like Walkman and seemed to push the envelope to varying degrees of success. They led on personal video recorders and TV screen technology but Mini disks? Sony Memory Sticks? The deal I saw played out in focus group after focus group was that Sony in those days was the leader and we expected a degree of risk to be attached to our purchase. we got to look cool and like a trend-setter, but we may end up with a lemon. Maybe Apple are in a similar place. For the record my second Video iPod went phut this morning too.

[Steve S]

I think this is the natural progression of life in Web 2.0. Apple knows that it can get people to pick up Safari, "no matter what". Thus, they launch a BETA that they know will have some troubles. Getting this product out just gives them some more time to pick up a user base and try to convert a few Windows fence sitters to the Safari side of things.

Meanwhile they work out all the bugs, release a few patches and everyone forgets what a travesty that the original product was. iTunes 7 was a great example of just this kind of thinking.

[Pat Coyle]

This is my first ever beta...thanks for the encouraging words!

[Sante]

I had been waiting for a post like this from you for a while now :)

[Vladimir Orlt]

There are degrees to "betadness"... lots of products are offered in "beta", we should be aware of the risks but we don't expect (or, rather, hope against) them failing miserably.

[niokaser]

iTunes 7 was a great example of just this kind of thinking.

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[Glenn Mandelkern]

This idea about business not being very tolerant of failures is most definitely evident in one area lately -- hiring!

Some of us managers do see a lot of value in the various candidates we select, recruit, interview and extend offers too. We do believe in the statement "people are the product."

However, far too many other managers are paralyzed today by the fear of making a hiring mistake. Consequently, hiring cycles are drawn out inordinately. Some executives and headhunters try to excuse this away, proclaiming that all the good people are already taken and that only passive candidates are truly attractive. Hogwash!

If companies really want to create those killer product, they must be willing to fail and learn from all their mistakes, including those in staffing. Stalling to hire someone with potential and capability is a mistake unto itself, especially if your competitors are faster to make offers because they've learned that no matter what happens, they can handle it.

It's time for my fellow employers to get over the fear of making a hiring mistake.

[Andrew Tracey]

"The best and brightest among us are constantly growing."

And THAT is the one consistently overriding trait of the very best in ANY field--doctors, lawyers, executives, entrepreneurs, webmasters, ad infinitum!!

Cheers,
Andrew

[Mojo]

I want a beta t-shirt :)