Everyone with a fine liberal arts education should be familiar with Zeno’s Dichotomy Paradox (props to Steve Leroux for helping me remember his damn name).

“Suppose Homer wants to catch a stationary bus. Before he can get there, he must get halfway there. Before he can get halfway there, he must get a quarter of the way there. Before traveling a quarter, he must travel one-eighth; before an eighth, one-sixteenth; and so on.”

I can think of no better description of software development releases (or product development in general). At some point you have to say “fuck it”, fall forward, and confound Zeno. Throw caution to the wind and ship too early and you ship crap– and your users know it. Aim for perfection and days stretch to weeks as each day brings you asymptotically closer to greatness (which sucks the life out of any team, IMO). I know teams who literally have worked for a year or more without shipping anything to anyone. I don’t know how they can do it.

But, any way you slice it, those last few days before a release feel like you’re wading through rancid molasses.