# Delivering creates information
Delivery · principle · https://build-here.africa/book/chapters/05-01-shipping-creates-information.html

## The reflex

You have been preparing a change for three weeks. A question about use is still open. You carry on, hoping the answer will come at delivery.

## The builder's reflex

Choose what the next attempt has to teach you, then ship the smallest version that answers it.

## Why

Until someone uses it, you know nothing. Every week of work without feedback is a bet on your assumptions. Shipping turns the bet into information.

You are redoing the sales team's standard quote. Before sending it to every prospect, send it to two customers you know and ask them what they understand about the price. One day, and you find the line nobody reads.

A delivery with no observation teaches nothing. Decide beforehand what you will look at: a use, a number, a reaction. Otherwise you ship, move on to the next thing, and keep the same uncertainty.

A small change has consequences too. A single line can change a thousand records. For what cannot be undone, a migration, a commitment, a price, do a rehearsal on chosen cases first, and prepare the way back.

## Try this

On a change in progress, write:

> The question to inform: ...
> The smallest version that answers it: ...
> What we will look at, and when: ...

Ship it this week. Afterwards, separate what you saw from what you conclude. Carry on, change, or stop.

When your context blocks the release, because a client sets the dates, the install happens on site or sign-off takes weeks, ship to one person anyway. Have them try the version on your machine or on a test setup. The information comes from use, and one real use is enough to start.

## To discuss

Which question does our next delivery have to answer?