Getting Real
March 12th, 2006
I just finished reading through 37signals new book called “Getting Real.” I really enjoyed the book and would definitely recommend it. Below are some thoughts and highlights.
Work from large to small.
Due to my previously mentioned perfectionist nature, I often get stuck in the details. The book pointed out that “Success and satisfaction is in the details, but you’ll also find stagnation, disagreement and delay. There’s plenty of time to be a perfectionist. Just do it later.” Now actually doing that is going to be tougher, but it is a great point that really hit home with me.
Just Wing It and Scale Later.
Too often things get stuck in plan mode. The book suggests, “Create a great app and then worry about what to do once it’s wildly successful.” That makes a lot more sense to me. I understand that scalability needs to be in the back of your mind, but it shouldn’t drive a project. Make something great first and get it out the door as quickly as possible.
If you try to please everyone, you won’t please anyone.
This is obvious, but I think it is good that the book discussed it. You can’t please everyone. It’s just not possible. Focus on pleasing the users who are going to love your app and become evangelists.
Any feature that requires learning will only be adopted by a small fraction of users.
A user can only learn and use a certain number of features. If they can get what they need done, they won’t spend the time necessary to learn the correct or easier way to do it. Their way works and that is all they are interested in. This is why feature bloat is bad. Nail down which features are going to be used and don’t add the others in. This keeps the app simple and easy to use.
Decisions are temporary so make the call and move on.
Again due to my perfectionism, this is often an issue with me. I painstakingly analyze what would be the best way to do something. In the end, what keeps you inerested in and excited about your app? Progress. Making decisions quickly means you can spend more time getting things done, which means you will remain excited about your app.
Done. Start to think of it as a magical word. When you get to
done it means something’s been accomplished. A decision has
been made and you can move on. Done means you’re build-
ing momentum.
Five Antonio Salieris won’t produce Mozart’s Requiem. Ever. Not if they work for 100 years.
You don’t need a hundred programmers. You need a few great ones. Excellent point.
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I think that you and I have that in common - focusing on the details and letting them slow you down. One of my favorite parts of Getting Real was a restatement of my favorite business aphorism: “Fast, good, cheap - pick any two.”
Normally, I’d tell clients I won’t sacrifice on the “good” - I’ll do my best and they’ll have to choose fast or cheap. Getting Real says you can have all three, but it means fewer features. And for many projects that’s fine. Kinda obvious, but it’s something clients don’t seem to accept (at least when they’re negotiating a contract).
Those are some really good common sense things to keep in mind. I guess it’s both good and bad that a lot of projects forget these concepts. The bad is there aren’t as many good web applications as there could be. The good is that there is less good competition! :)
True.