exploring vs finalizing: ship ugly v1s

• trying to build v2 before v1 is like proposing on the first date
• you don’t know what you’re building yet
• stop pretending you do

v1 is supposed to be ugly

• messy code, hacky solutions, zero tests
• who cares?
• you’re not building a cathedral
• you’re sketching with crayons
• embrace perfect imperfection - strategic messiness beats pristine paralysis
• perfectionist writing unit tests for prototype?
• they’ll still be “architecting” while you’re shipping v3

the evolution path

v1: "does this even work?"
v1.1: "okay it works but it's terrible"
v1.2: "getting warmer"
v2: "now we know what we're building"

• v1 is reconnaissance
• you’re mapping unknown territory, not building highways

save your perfectionism for v2

• that’s when you know what you’re building
• that’s when tests matter
• that’s when architecture counts
• now you can apply system thinking
• because you actually understand the system
• until then? ship garbage that teaches you something

the fundamental split

• v1: explore the jungle with a machete
• v2: build the city with blueprints
• stop bringing blueprints to the jungle
• you’ll die before you build anything
• v1 explores, v2 executes
• ship accordingly

See also

• perfect-imperfection.md
• system-thinking-web3.md