For the last couple of years there’s been quite a bit of talk in web dev circles about fast iterations, usually related to small(ish) applications like the ones from 37 Signals or (the now pretty big) Flickr. I’d consider Netflix a bigger site or at least an older company active and growing before all the new trends got visibility so it’s good to see that they also go for the fast iterations. It’s also interesting to see how designers have reacted within the team when they are “only” designers. In other cases like those I mentioned, the designers lead or were early important participants in small teams, grabbing a larger than usual share of the application creation.
At first, this sounds like a frustrating design constraint. In talking with the team, we realized that it doesn’t frustrate them at all. Instead, it frees them up to be flexible and adaptive, so they can react effectively to customer needs. As a result, they don’t deal with the many “when we redesign” issues that so many of us deal with in the design world. They’re building for the present—all the time.
Good list of benefits and side effects too.