Plenty of good ideas here from Jeff Atwood. I love the passion he shows for his new venture:
Have your team and yourself start using that minimum viable product, every day, all day long. This is way more than mere software development: it’s your whole life. If you aren’t living in the software you’re building, each day, every day, all day … things are inevitably going to end in tears for everyone involved.
Now, need a customer service mindset for this approach, and a band of dedicated, cross-discipline engineers prepared to roll up their sleeves and get things done. But if you have that spirit and belief, the project can succeed.
The only thing I’ve ever seen work is getting down deep and dirty in the trenches with your users, communicating with them and cultivating relationships. That’s how you suss out the rare 10% of community feedback that is amazing and transformative. That’s how you build a community that gives a damn about what you’re doing – by caring enough to truly listen to them and making changes they care about.