About pragmatism and user centered projects

Is pragmatism more important than quality when launching projects?

One does not eliminate the other. On the other hand, an interesting question to be asked is: being pragmatic in launching projects sacrifices the importance of the user and the quality of the project?

Short answer: no. In the short term, yes, there is a correlation between pragmatism to launch quickly and low quality of products. But this makes sense to happen given that the process is iterative and the product improves over time. It's the same situation as waterfall vs. agile.

Reading about the history of some startups founded by designers (e.g. AirBnB, Kickstarter, Kahoot and others), one thing became clear: the mindset is the most important aspect of having design as the pillar of the project. It's simpler than it seems: just don't forget to keep the user at the center.

Being pragmatic is a way to iterate the product quickly and thus generate value for the user. Pragmatism, in this sense, is the opposite of perfectionism. Perfectionism with methodologies, with processes, with frameworks.

Based on the same stories, another notable fact is: until a product is up and running with real users, all learnings generated are assumptions. Putting it another way, there is no way to have certainties about a project without launching it.