It has been said that nearly 80% of people that download an app will never use the app again if it crashes or performs poorly the first time that they use it. The amount of press surrounding security breaches and vulnerabilities is at its highest. The pressure on software companies to deliver solid, reliable products is higher than ever. Yet here are some of the loudest phrases in Silicon Valley software development still uttered today:

“Move Fast and Break Shit”

“Fuck it Ship It”

“Won’t Fix”

If you’re a small company, shipping glitchy software that frustrates your users extends beyond the test report of the often-unvalued Q.A. department (if you have one). Poor-quality software that is unpleasant and unreliable to users ends up reducing the overall user experience and enjoyability of using your product. A great user experience isn’t just about the icons and design of the site, it also means that the software does what the user expects it to do and performs how the user expects it to perform. Shipping sh*t and thinking you will fix it later will result in many of your hard-earned new users hating your stuff, leaving negative reviews (if applicable), and posting all kinds of nasty insults on Twitter.

If your company is a large software behemoth who has millions of users, you may think that your users won’t mind that much if you ship sh*t that they don’t like and that can even pose harm to them. Heck, there’s been enough examples out there of companies leaking data, not disclosing vulnerabilities for months, and pushing updates that annoy and upset plenty of people. But eventually, users always mind. Whether it’s millions of dollars spent on litigation or engineering hours spent trying to clean up an issue or a giant dent in the carefully-designed branding and reputation, there’s always a cost to shipping sh*t.

This blog will explore how not to ship sh*t, share the importance of software testing/automation/validation/verification, case study some really bad engineering failures, and highlight badass sh*t preventers everywhere. Welcome to the ride.