Perfection does not exist
inter-sections.net
inter-sections.net
Yes, it is an enlightening article. After I read it the first time, I immediately began going through my old Complex Analysis and Physics textbooks. That was one of the few experiences I would describe as 'thunderstruck'.
And you, I'm sorry to say, don't know the first thing about me. And many like me.
Many of us are "in the pits", developing and implementing for our users every day. Our ideas come from them. We don't have the luxury of sitting in some ivory tower or think tank "wondering" what users would like. They tell us every day.
"there will be many side-steps, jumps and skips along the road. These are all perfectly natural and to be expected."
Only by those who don't know what they're doing. There are a couple of "lost arts" that, when performed properly, prevent the things that OP calls "your fault". They're called Project Management and Systems Analysis.
I would change "perfection does not exist" to "success is elusive". You have to know how to achieve it. The article's conclusions makes me wonder how much the OP actually has.
Project Management and Systems Analysis create a straightforward path to success? Wow. Then how come they are "lost arts"?
Actually, I know how most advocates answer this question. They say it wasn't (to use your phrase) "performed properly". This is the ultimate teflon defense of any software process theory. If it succeeded, you performed it properly; if it failed, you must not have.
My logic?
a. OP claimed that his readers don't know what their users want. I am his reader. So I don't know what my users want.
b. I do know what my users want because I have conducted "proper" systems analysis. (Perhaps "sufficient" would be a better word that "proper".)
Therefore:
c. OP must not know what Systems Analysis really is or he never would have made his initial claim.
A few comments about some of the things needed to conduct "proper" systems analyis:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=84977
I wonder how much of this OP did before he claimed that his readers didn't know what their users wanted. Often people claim that something can't be done because they have never done it.