Comment by randomdata

> It’s about pleasing upper management.

It's about the customer recognizing the product as something they are ready to buy, which is associated with the dictionary definition for shipped "(of a product) be made available for purchase."

It falls apart slightly in that the customer technically starts buying the product on day one, while it is still just a glimmer in someone's eye, but "shipping" referring to the point where the customer says "Yes, that is what I wanted" is close enough to stay within the intent of recognizing something available for purchase methinks.

> If you’ve given users the best software ever

Of course, in context, the users aren't your customer. They may be someone else's customer, but that wouldn't be shipped by your hand. Your delivery is limited to your customer.