Building Better Software is the Goal, Right?

There is something to be said for polishing your software project until it gleams before releasing it into the wild. You'll likely get more complements than criticism from the people who actually use it, for one. And using highly polished software is definitely more satisfying than using buggy, under-developed software. But there is something tantalizing about a fast-paced release schedule where you are constantly shoving out new versions into the clutches of your users. While they will tear each release apart at the weak seams you programmed in, they will also provide you with valuable feedback about what works and what doesn't--and suggestions on how to improve your feature-set. And this feedback circuit expands even further on open-source projects, where you collaborate with other developers, and everyone (including the users) picks at the bugs. At the end of the day you might not end up with a better piece of software than if you spent month's ferreting out all of the bugs between releases, but it's likely you will end up with one better targeted at your users, meeting more of their needs--since they helped with its development.