CPH127

I subscribe to this manifesto! Cheers from Lausanne, Switzerland, Alex

The beta manifesto could very well be the most important since the cluetrain manifesto. Or even more! I can only add one thing to the manifesto:
- Beta is work in progress.

Cool idea. Go ahead. We are all in beta. If not now - when?

Livet är en beta-version

I avdelningen filosofi som ger aha-upplevelser vill jag peka på Hans Henriks påbörjade manifest för beta som idé. Att betrakta inte bara nya webbtjänster utan allt från innovationsprocesser till hela företag såsom ett konstant be…

yes I agree - we ARE all works in progress…the web environment is particulaly like this isn’t it…like a painting that never dries and can be developed on and embelished again and again…nice analogy and one particularly suited to the way desigers think. Methinks…

Beautiful.

Would only add a self-referential point about the fact that we’re at a stage in history where we need to label it beta since what should be very natural and probably always has been how good business has been conducted isn’t the shared reality/best practice.

Thomas..someone encrypted your message :-). I guess I get your point anyway…being in beta is a natural state, but 100’s of years of industrial brainwash have removed us from nature. Now we are beginning to move back to the origin of creation. I believe you agree that the beta label is neccessary until everybody understands it! You surely understand is. Your reboot.dk is this year more beta than ever..never before has the program and participants been so much dependant on co-creation. Beta rules!

Dear Hans Henrik.
Dr. Bove was kind to suggest that I should read and comments your manifest.
Count me in!

After having lived and worked in the so called beta mode for the last 20 years I think know what you mean.

However, I often wish that more of my projects would be a little less beta.

Encrypted or not you got the point
I guess my core theory is that creation always has played by the same rules - even the last 100 years - but the model was that you amplifief one single creation to a multi-national corporation in a long time span. Not the hyper creation society of today.

But my point is really about perspective - and why i think a self-referantial point in such a manifesto would be great.

I attended my first unconference last weekend, DCamp, http://chittahchattah.blogspot.com/2006/04/dcamp.html, and in one of our sessions, http://www.peterme.com/archives/000736.html someone felt that they were unhappy with the perpetual beta-state of software, at least. My response was that it was an ironic observation from someone sitting an unconference - which was a very typical “good enough, pretty much” experience. At the time, we were sitting outside, on cheap folding chairs, in a loose circle, in a makeshift meeting area. It was very beta. And it was working, so why complain about beta?

ill quote Bruce Sterling here and say that “any ’solved problem’ that involves human beings solves a problem whose parameters must change with time” thus what we design is ultimately in a constant state of beta… i think it’s also relevant to see beta as a state at which user-feedback is accepted and eventually integrated and hopefully in the best possible way to another beta state where feedback can occur again… which is not the case for the new Gamma version of Flickr…yuck..: (

Dear all

Thank you so much for commenting on our ideas for a beta manifesto.

The ideas aren’t complete – they are in the making, true beta – and we hope for a further participation from all of you in creating the manifesto.

I think beta is a state in life, pure, innocent – like a little child. Many companies and individuals started out in beta but ended up being stuffed up with regulations, bureaucracy and “public” opinion.

We need to “un-learn” what we have learned, we need to play, we are in NEED to find out that everything is possible.

The manifesto – so far – is definitely in an early state. It would be of great help if you could inspire us even further in developing the manifesto – not necessary many different points, but more genuine histories that exemplifies what beta is all about. Whether you’re an individual, company or even a society

Warning: Rant coming…..

I’m happy that you don’t mean “Under Construction” the way most 1.gen. websites tended to present themselves just a few years back!
Thomas is on to something by saying that the reason why we need to call it beta is, that we compare it to another era (industrial) where atoms - bricks and mortar - made products and services “finished”. We don’t just yet understand how this state of flux (beta) is the norm and not a state “before” finishing.
Two remarks:

Many years ago (20 something) this was often referred to as the “zen” of everything - and budhism was popular among “new age” thinkers in the west. The point was - primitively put - that the important part was “the way” or “the process” and not the end product or the goal.

Computer gurus from California were often into alternative culture - like “zen” culture. One proponent of such culture was/is Stewart Brand who founded “The Whole Earth Review” and the sister “Whole Earch Catalog” - which was about sustainable culture, and living, and alternative culture. (Other people from that “culture gang” are Howard Rheingold and Kevin Kelly - and also some of the people who were involved in building the Mac: Don Norman for example who is now with Jakob Nielsen).

Stewart Brand (who wrote “The Media Lab - inventing the future at MIT” in 1987 - and set me off in the direction of computer media) - has written a book which is very popular among information architects. It’s called “The way buildings learn”, and is - among other things a journey into how a physical structure changes in time - and how a well architected house takes into account that it will ALWAYS change, and the uses will change. In the past most physical products were not meant for change. They were build to be static. Now even physical structures like buildings can be build to change when needed.
Another example of this is closer to us. The success of the IBM compatible PC as it was called back in the eighties - was in part due to the fact that it could be changed. Parts were replacable and the owner could upgrade the damned thing himself. Now we all sport laptops, and don’t upgrade anymore - but the success of the PC and Microsoft can be traced back to a product which was in constant “beta”.
That marked a change from the famous quote of Henry Ford (Industrial Age Icon if any): “You can have it in any color - as long as it is black”.

So why is Web 2.0 then “beta”? Because it takes the vision of “The Semantic Web” and builds it “bottom up” - bit by bit. Instead of planning it to death, Web 2.0 proponents actually build it, tests it, changes it etc. That is the beta in Web 2.0, and each and every one of us who have spend time doing this for the past handfull of years, know that the fun is in “the way” and not in the end result. Which is good - because there will be no end result.
Meanwhile VCs and the dominant players in the IT business are looking for ways to capitalize on this. I fear it is a bubble. There are way too many little Web 2.0 startups, and they keep coming. I don’t see a simple way to actually build a company - the traditional way with traditional business plans, sales and marketing etc. - and not be left behind in the dust, by the speed of change that Web 2.0 beta practice has introduced in the web business. It is not just the products and services that change - it is the inner workings of business and processes.

BTW: This comment is “beta”. I did not check my facts and just wrote from memory. I did not spell check. I did not edit.

Beta may be conceived of as an ongoing state where continuous improvements can be integrated as they are designed - either as response to customer input/feedback/requests, or as part of innovation driven change. Perceiving a project as “finished” is when entropy begins to exert its inevitable process. Beta neatly sidesteps this particular conundrum by not accepting that a product or service is “perfect”.

Right on Ian. I think of ipod for instance, as a product in beta. On the surface it symbolizes design and perfection. But the continuous improvement on iPods shows that the technology is in beta. So to relate to what you are saying, Apple accepts that their product is never perfect, even though it may scream “perfect” by design. The Danish company bang & olufsen do “perfect design” products..however they are absolutely not in beta - now apple is moving in to their territory.

“Fuck off with your sofa units and serine green stripe patterns, I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say let… lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may.”

For those of you who are interested in the origin and inspiration of the beta manifesto, here are some sources:

32 Tips to Inspire Innovation for You and Your Library
http://www.imakenews.com/sirsi/e_article000423643.cfm?x=b4TcM1g,b2rpmkgK,w
(this was what inspired me most of them all)

Can Sinofsky Help Microsoft Make the Leap From Vaporware to Perpetual Beta?
http://business2.blogs.com/business2blog/2006/03/can_sinofsky_he.html

Life in beta
http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/km/elsua/archives/life-in-perpetual-beta-are-you-ready-7519

Beta schools
http://www.practicaltheory.org/serendipity/index.php?/archives/518-Beta-Schools.html

The perpetual beta (from the Guardian)
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/technology/archives/2005/11/29/the_perpetual_beta.html

Learning 2.0
http://learning20.blogspot.com/2005/10/perpetual-beta.html

Life (beta)
http://webjunction.lishost.org/?p=127

Websites are always in beta
http://michael.wilcox.net/2006/05/03/websites-are-always-in-beta/

Before a commercial software program is released to the public, it usually goes through a “beta” phase. During this stage, the software is tested for bugs, crashes, errors, inconsistencies, and any other problems. Though beta versions of software used to be made available only to developers, they are now sometimes made available for the general public to test, usually through the software company’s Web site. However, because beta software is free, the programs usually expire after a period of time. If you choose to test a beta software program, don’t be surprised if it has multiple problems and causes your computer to repeatedly crash. After all, it is the beta version. You can tell if a program is still in beta by checking the program’s properties.
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Hmm I’m always weary with the term “beta”. I believe we are looking at it in the wrong context.

Most software people do it for example, because its helps them troubleshoot their programs, with the best troubleshooters, their customers.

Designers do it, basically to get their designs rolling, start the concept, get it moving. Beta, out of the mind and onto paper or foam.

But calling beta “revolutionary”? I think not! Its means unfinshed, work in progress, there but not quiet there. To me we could stop alot of OS or software problems if companies took the time to finish their work before they launch it. Calling it “beta” to me is an excuse and reeks of poor project planning and time managment. Oh the suits want it our quick, the dateline is too short, never mind lets give ourselves an way out lets release it as a beta.

Beta as an excuse for product improvement? Noway! It should be automatic, product improvements should be a given.

Honestly I belief we give “beta” too much credit. Beta is just that, after alpha. Get to gold ASAP.

Beta is not revolutionary! Beta is a natural state of all living things. For me being in beta means:
- staying close to customers = intimacy
- many incremental changes = constant development or evolution/work in progress
- experimental = play with stuff to a certain degree

Name a few companies that are intimate with their customers and prospective customers….
AND are on the path of constant development
AND experiment…

most entrepreneurs do this - most large corps. dont…

….please let me add that beta also could be seen as an approach to life, a mindset.

I think we all learned to think inside the box, in stages, a before b befor c….. we learned to please the teacher, live up to given expectations. But the the real big changes in life is’nt about inside the box thinking, finishing everyting to perfection. It’s more about “let go”, see what happens…

Good call, the beta manifesto has a huge potential. Personally my experience with beta is from a scientific background where beta version is especially useful to let lead-users try new versions in order to make corrections before the official product hits the market. I would argue that an understanding of why beta is so crucial for today’s innovation, is that it allows companies to get new ideas tested by users which can help decrease the distance between users and producers. I find it interesting if we could get answers to what extent beta as a fenomena affects the technological development.

ChangeThis-manifesto on it’s way hopefully - take a look at http://www.changethis.com/proposals/685

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