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March 16, 2005
ETech - Basecamp
Jason Fried, 37Signals - How to build web apps:- Reducing mass - need to find the right people (hiring). Need to work with people that are positive, well rounded (people need to be able to do a lot of different things), quick learner, trustworthy, good writers (so people can communicate effectively).
- Embracing constraints - forcing yourself into situations where you have to constrain is good. Like use small teams. Be self funded--you care about your own money, right? Lack of proximity--meetings are bad. You can be more productive working apart for periods of time. Building less software--build less features, allows less tech support, less qa, give people just enough to solve their own problems. One example is Tada lists (simple ToDo list manager). Other ideas: say no by default, listen to the product and add features when users ask for it, decisions are temporary you can always change them later.
- Getting real - There's an illusion of agreement. There's nothing functional about a functional spec. It's a political document. Allows people to point fingers at each other. Graphic design should drive your product development. Make most decisions just in time (JIT).
- Managing debt - Don't need to worry about scalability (when you start building your first web based app).
Posted by andrej at March 16, 2005 10:39 PM