Getting Real with 37 Signals
Borrowed a copy of 'Getting Real' by 37 Signals from Les Cochrane recently. It's billed as the smarter, faster, easier way to build a successful web application but there are lots of lessons that can be applied to business and life in general.
The main one that they focus on is to just get on and do it. Too many times people come up with ideas and then don't follow through, if you're a person that delivers you're going to succeed. This doesn't just apply to web apps, it's everything - if you say you're going to do something, you damn well need to do it.
The book covers:
how to start out and attract funding
how to stay lean and avoid the corporate bloat
how to prioritise and what's really important when working on a project
how to select what should be part of your service/application/product
how the processes should run within your organisation
how the organisation should be in its outlook
how you should recruit and select staff, and what people you need
how to design
how to code successfully
how to write the best words that help sell your service/product/app
how to price and how to increase the amount of people signing up and getting involved
how to promote your service/product/app in a web 2.0 world
how to support people once they have your service/product/app
how to keep the buzz going after you've launched
One of the key things that 37 Signals point out is that you should always hire good writers. I think this is vital in any organisation, because people who can write and speak properly will be able to communicate better - not just with customers but also internally with co-workers. A well-worded email with clear instructions is priceless, a quick conference call and good notes from it can make all the difference. Plus, when you do have people with good writing skills communicating with customers it will show. I'm convinced that sloppy grammar can sometimes lose you a sale.
The 37 Signals book is definitely worth a read, even if you're not in the web app business, as the lessons they impart can be applied to plenty of other circumstances. The way 37 Signals run their business and their ethos, well bits of it, are what I would like to apply to Blog Local as we start out into the business world.
Image credit to Move The Cloud's