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.