Move fast, break things...

If you aren't breaking things, you aren't moving fast enough. -- Mark Zuckerberg.

Last weekend, I watched "The Social Network" and was absolutely fascinated by the early beginnings of Facebook. It's a great film made by a great director about a person whose greatness the world is consuming in gradual monotonically increasing bursts. I love heroes. They keep me upbeat and boost my convictions.

The film captivated me so much that I was frantically looking for content about Facebook's start and it's cofounders' early exploits on the net. I found some great videos and they made me want more. That's how my weekend transpired. You guys should totally watch this and this. They are an in depth look on Mark's personality, "the depth of his convictions", his belief in "hackathalons" and his attitude towards speedy releases.

Every startup blog, I have read, has always stressed on the importance of releasing quick and releasing frequently. In fact, some feel very strongly against stealth startups. The internet is the perfect playground - bad memories are short lived and so are good. Consistency matters and people love reputation, as does PageRank.

A lot of companies are investing in building tools and infrastructure that makes it very easy for developers to release features at an astonishing pace. Facebook's career page sums this up perfectly:
"Our development cycle is extremely fast, and we've built tools to keep it that way. It's common to write code and have it running on the live site a few days later. This comes as a pleasant surprise to engineers who have worked at other companies where code takes months or years to see the light of day. If you work for us, you will be able to make an immediate impact."

Developers love this. Employers desire it.