Designing is aiming, not locking down on a target. In comparison to shooting at random, when designing you still don't know if you're going to hit the target b

Designing is aiming, not locking down on a target. In comparison to shooting at random, when designing you still don't know if you're going to hit the target but you've at least made it clear what and where you think the target is. Further, design and planning is a courtesy to the users. If you're churning out prototypes and basically shooting at random then you have effectively demoted your potential users into mere filters to help you see what will hit the wall and what will not. I don't mean to defend waterfall design or any of that ancient crap. You can't design software like that but you must design it somehow. Prototyping—seeing yourself what works and thinking about what would Joe or Jane want to use the software for—is a great way to design. But prototypes aren't real products. They're not even eggs of real products: prototypes are really meant to be thrown away. It is not imperative to spend years with design committees just as you don't have to "do it fucking now" either. Release something small but make sure it's something you've truly designed. If you just throw anything that merely compiles or runs onto the market then "I'll fucking leave now" (and won't come back).