I am really interested in the culture of beta. We see site like Google rolling out new projects with regularity and without the final polish that we might have expected of a company 10 years ago. Many of us use sites that are buggy (Twitter anyone?) and we generally roll with problems as they arise. We’ll create accounts on sites without knowing how we’ll use them, and we generally approach new sites and companies with a sense of play.
I realize that not everyone uses the web in this way, but it’s a way of approaching things that is growing. I also think gaming culture is opening the door to this. If one fundamental rule of the internet: Trying stuff is cheaper than deciding whether to try it, I suspect we’ll find this to be a rule in general.
And so I think a lot about what this culture of beta means for us in libraries. What does this mean for our way of working? Does this validate the “let’s try a service and see how it goes?” more than it should be valued? Should we focus lots of energy on surveys, focus groups, and prototyping before the roll out of a service, or should we save that work until the service is already out there? I’m growing more inclined to think we should operate from a culture of beta mindset (though, folks who have known me at work know that I tended to have the “let’s just try and see if it sticks” mentality anyway).
What do you think? Over-rationalizing? Makes sense?
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Technically, gMail is still in beta and institutions of higher education are switching all their mail services to this beta product. Who would have thought?
Thinking, analyzing, planning all have their place but at some point you just have to do it. In some institutions one can spend so much time with those steps that you miss out on the opportunity to be innovative. To be exciting. To have a pulse. I want to have a pulse and I want the organization I work for to have one too.
Posted 27 May 2008 at 11:53 pm ¶Hey Kenley, good point re: gMail!
I’m with you on the exciting/pulse/innovation line of thinking. Innovation is one of my primary motivators, and I’m a big fan of trying out new things and seeing how they go.
Lately I’ve been wrestling with the issue of assessment and planning. I see some colleagues in the field looking for more processes and plans for implementation of services they plan to use, which makes me think that there are less “culture of beta” people than I might have expected. I’m trying to figure out how to bridge their work needs with the “culture of beta” idea.
I also see great value in focus groups and having conversations with our users, so I am thinking a lot about that, too. However, I think that a lot of those conversations and focus groups can meet around new services and projects as they arise, not slowing down the process in the planning phase.
I particularly like your “I want to have a pulse and I want the organization I work for to have one too.” Amen to that!
Posted 29 May 2008 at 8:23 pm ¶Post a Comment