Patrick Rhone inadvertently provides a succinct explanation as to why I dislike roadmaps, pre-announcements, and hype culture in general.

Instead:

• Make the thing.
• Don’t talk about it.
• When it’s ready; show and tell.

@simonwoods I'm curious; do you feel there's a tipping point or defining characteristic(s) between "engaging with your audience/community" and "hype culture"?

I ask because I shared my progress quite a bit on Twitter while I was building Thought Detox, and I think it both helped the app get a little bit of traction on launch, while also helping me create the app that folks wanted. Also, I opened it up for pre-orders, and am toying with a public roadmap — basically everything you mention you dislike. 😂

@simonwoods what about the idea of Show Your Work while you’re doing the thing? I think that’s incredibly valuable, can’t produce something in a vacuum.

@vincent @AngeloStavrow I should have said "advanced pre-announcements" or something along those lines. Also should have been much clearer about the level of public communication.

From what I've seen, the both of you take an approach more along the lines of "semi-closed beta"... sort of. And that's a great example of what Angleo said re: "community".

Gotta go but definitely have more specific thoughts. Probably should go for a longer, better considered post to clarify my position. 😂