Smart stuff from the folks at Working Software:

What is it that you can compromise on that people may expect, in order to deliver what you consider to be exceptional in a period of time that fits your budget and release schedule? … they may be willing to forgo such pleasantries if you deliver them some quality in your application which they consider to be exceptional. The key to living with mediocrity, releasing software and, hopefully, making money is to figure out which bits of the application you’re building can get away with being mediocre, then spend all your time working on the bits that will make your product exceptional.