Move Fast And Break Things is Facebook’s unofficial (or maybe official) motto. It’s part of the hacker ethos, and I get it. You need to try to new things, not follow established patterns, if you want to create really innovative products. “You would never build something great doing it the same way others have done it,” said Mark Zuckerberg.
Except, what if you move so fast that you break essential things? Facebook’s replacement of user emails with Facebook email address was not only a typical Facebook PR disaster, but it turns out that there was a bug so that some smartphone users had emails replaced not just in Facebook, but in their contacts too. So that they were sending emails to people’s Facebook addresses without knowing it. Facebook addresses that recipients don’t check. It was a complete clusterfuck, and users are rightly pissed. How many users ripped their Facebook app right out of their smartphone after that? And how many other users who were thinking about installing the app decided not to?
“Breaking things” is great unless your customers actually rely on those things. Then you are just breaking your bond of trust with your customers. And you never get that back.
Thoughtbasket 