The first time I read about the concept, “Ready, Fire, Aim” from Michael Masterson, I didn’t get it. I thought it was just an excuse to present half-baked ideas to the world. It was the ultimate excuse for the person who did shoddy work.

Today, I got it. I will illustrate with a story. Bayo has been writing his masterpiece for fourteen years. He has written and rewritten the manuscript several times and always finds something wrong with one sentence here or another paragraph there. Despite frequent urges by colleagues to send the manuscript to a publisher, he continues to revise it.

Like many creative types, Bayo suffers from perfectionism. He believes that his manuscript must be absolutely impeccable before it is sent to publishers despite the fact that editors would review it before its publication. Contrary to this, ‘ready, fire, aim’ argues that we should deploy our ideas before refining them.
This concept is most observable in the computer software industry where creators release an iteration of their product into the market; receive user feedback, refine, and then release an updated version. This approach allows creators to share their products quickly and to receive useful tips for improvement. It also allows them to ‘beat the clock’ in today’s world where everyone appears to be coming up with similar ideas. If you wait for perfection, someone else would launch your idea…and make lots of money from it. Don’t allow this to happen to you; ready, fire, then aim!