Most people don’t mind putting up with something imperfect, they just don’t want to feel misled.

In fact, imperfection can be a path to loyalty if you invite your users to join the adventure.

The visceral experience of what’s great and what’s not drives users to improve your product with you. They may take pride in knowing workarounds for things you haven’t patched yet, and satisfaction in seeing you make the fixes they requested.

This creates a relationship. As more relationships form around your adventures, the shared destiny becomes the seed of community.

Remember: your users are highly technical, and may love software as much as you do. They understand limitations, roadmaps, constraints. They’ll appreciate a front-row seat to the creation of a tool they love, and cheer you in the arena if you champion their needs in the process.

Just don’t act like you’ve already arrived when it’s obvious there’s still plenty of road ahead. Your most engaged users will feel deceived, they’ll stop trusting you.

Directness, honesty, and collaboration are underutilized in our industry. We see so much bluster and false confidence everywhere we turn. But a little humility cuts through the noise: it’s human and it’s an invitation.

Imperfection can be opportunity if your die-hards get to be part of the adventure with you. Let them in.