202512041502 The default state of a project is to not ship

The default state of a project is to not ship: to be delayed indefinitely, cancelled, or to go out half-baked and burst into flames. Projects do not ship automatically once all the code has been written or all the Jira tickets closed. They ship because someone takes up the difficult and delicate job of shipping them.¹

It takes strong, single-minded effort to actually ship a project. We need to focus on this task as the important thing that it is unto itself.

We should also not be scared to not ship because we should own the project end-to-end. If not us, then who would be better suited to feel confident? Entire teams of people work on things to get them out the door, but there has to be an owner. Ship small and often to limit the risk. Get it into production and in front of people early.

Remember that you've only actually shipped when people acknowledge it and are happy about it. If your project is running in production but no one likes it, then you didn't ship.