Speed and perfection are two variables that affect every choice in the production process. This “speed vs. perfection” dichotomy is often viewed in terms of a “decisive choice” that you have to take before starting a project. On the one hand, you can produce a software project very fast, but then deal with compromises later (for example, major problems with scaling or refactoring). On the other hand, your team can also focus on quality, striving for perfection and sacrificing time to deliver the best product possible. A common myth is that you cannot switch between them without encountering major inefficiencies. In this article, we want to dispel this myth and prove that speed and perfection are perfectly compatible as long as you view software development not as a monolithic process but as a multi-stage procedure that allows for major changes in your strategy once a particular phase is complete.
Understanding Main Startup Stages
Software development for a startup project should not be viewed as a monolithic undertaking, where most decisions are taken before development and then completed according to an unchangeable plan. Approaches like Waterfall, which were popular when the modern IT sector was still forming, indeed used to follow this structure. However, this model proved to be inefficient in the ever-changing software markets. As a result, the modern approach to development is stage-based and flexible, with each stage representing a separate episode that only partially depends on the previous ones. Even if you decide to prioritize speed at first, this doesn’t mean that you can’t switch to perfection later on. You don’t have to make this decision in the beginning: instead, you can take a look at the preliminary results and then choose what factor you want to enhance later. Today, this development approach is usually called Agile. Here are some stages at which you can change the direction of your project:
a) Pre-Development Stage. At the pre-development stage, you decide the initial priorities of development. Here you can choose what technology your project will use, what functions you want to see in the initial release of your project, and whether you want a limited release first (MVP) or a full-scale project release from the start. Here you have multiple chances to change something in your overall strategy. While creating design mockups for your project, you can test whether your focus on speed or perfection makes sense. It is also possible to create prototypes and test how users react to them. Often, startups initially concentrate on the more well-known programming languages like C++ or Rust, but then change focus to custom Webflow development services or other no-code solutions.
b) Development stage. Your choices are quite diverse here, too. A common misconception is that you are locked into a particular choice because of the chosen programming language or platform. In reality, modern programming languages are often interchangeable. You can leave the basis as is and switch to something else, thanks to a large number of compatibility plugins. More importantly, many startups choose to focus on an MVP or a minimum viable product first, which is a version of a product with the minimally necessary number of features. A common strategy is to create a limited app for an MVP via simple-to-use programming languages or no-code platforms like Webflow, and then significantly redevelop the final version of the product if your MVP was met with success. This path was taken by Uber, one of the global leaders in transportation software.
c) Post-development stage. Major changes in the direction of the product and its focus on speed or perfection can be made after development, too. For example, one of the most common approaches taken by many companies today is to develop their products as fast as possible and then start perfecting them. This can be done in the form of an MVP or even a full-scale release. If your product is truly innovative, capturing the market before competition and then adding features based on the feedback of real customers is often one of the most reliable strategies. Many projects, like the aforementioned Uber or Instagram, became successful this way.
Balancing Speed and Perfection
As you can see, speed and perfection are not mutually exclusive. At different stages of development, it is crucial to prioritize one or another. But this interconnectedness of speed and perfection also means that you have to choose between them not once but multiple times. So, when is speed or perfection preferable?
Speed, in our opinion, should be your priority when you function in a market that undergoes a major technological change. AI, VR, or blockchain technologies are developing at an impressive pace that makes it almost impossible to focus on perfecting the existing features. Hyperoptimization of a particular AI model is often pointless because a new one will appear soon. Similarly, new cryptocurrency protocols are also appearing very rapidly. In this situation, the best choice is to offer the customers the latest software faster than competitors. Innovative markets are driven by hype: the faster you adapt to trends, the better. Modern AI market leaders like OpenAI or Anthropic follow this model.
Quality should usually be a priority in technologically mature markets. Innovations in them no longer give massive boosts to performance. What matters is the ability to optimize the existing technologies. For this, you need a complete mastery of your technology and a very thorough understanding of your customers’ needs. It is a common misconception that this stage means stagnation. The reality is different: small incremental changes often lead to even higher productivity boosts in the long term than the initial breakthroughs. We often see them as non-existent because they are slower and accumulate over the years. One of the best examples of this approach is Apple, which uses incremental changes to deliver some of the best hardware products on the market.
Conclusion
To summarize, the choice between speed and quality is never absolute. Modern startups can reassess it at different stages of development, choosing alternative directions for their products. Modern technologies simplify this change of strategy: many programming languages can be integrated via plugins; various no-code and low-code services also enable fast, cheap, and simple creation of MVPs that can later be redeveloped on a more complex basis. If you are not sure about your tech stack or, for example, are hesitant about the overall development approach, modern markets also feature a large number of software development partners like Keenethics. They can help you plan, develop, and support your project, offering help at all stages of development.
