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Jason Fried On Focus and Avoiding Interruptions

Posted by timothy on from the what-were-we-talking-about-2-seconds-ago dept.

BigTimOBrien writes "Jason Fried, founder of 37signals, talks about the day-to-day operations of 37signals. How does the company work, and what are the guiding principles behind the design of Basecamp and Campfire? He talks about the importance of avoiding interruptions and the relative unimportance of both physical space and mandatory meetings."

102 comments

  1. If you've never heard of them by CRCulver · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've never heard of the company, though I'm pretty clued up with the tech world, and I suspect others are in the same boat. FTA:

    So 37signals; we do a few different things. But primarily we design web-based applications for collaboration for small business. So you can share to-do lists. You can share ideas. You can share calendars and files and things like that with clients, or just internally online. Basecamp, Highrise, Backpack, Campfire; those are our main products. We've also written a couple of books. And we do a lot of speaking around the country about our ideas about business and entrepreneurship and things like that.

    1. Re:If you've never heard of them by mini+me · · Score: 5, Informative

      They are also the guys behind Ruby on Rails. Considering that topic is brought up quite often on Slashdot, I'm sure most people here have heard of it.

    2. Re:If you've never heard of them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      That information should be included in the article. I'm a developer (not Ruby/RoR obviously) and I had never heard of Jason Fried or 37signals

    3. Re:If you've never heard of them by ednopantz · · Score: 4, Funny

      These are the guys who say: "Get Real"

      meaning: Release your software with less features than your customers want. Users who ask for features are assholes. We know what you need. You don't. //Why we stopped using basecamp

    4. Re:If you've never heard of them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Go back to writing your Cobol and watching for kids on your lawn you curmudgeon.

    5. Re:If you've never heard of them by mini+me · · Score: 2, Funny

      I said heard of Rails, not 37signals. Since you know that Ruby on Rails is for web developers, obviously you have heard of it.

    6. Re:If you've never heard of them by NoNeeeed · · Score: 1

      And I have no interest in Java and Sun, so I think they should not be covered on Slashdot either.

      If we followed your logic, there would be nothing on slashdot. If you don't care, don't read.

      --
      Paul Leader
    7. Re:If you've never heard of them by NoNeeeed · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You have just helped demonstrate their point.

      If you don't like their product then you are free to use something else, a huge number of people are very happy with their products. If they tried to provide everything that you, and everyone, else wants (which will of course be different things), then the end result would be a mess. There are *always* people who don't like a product. 37s are just honest about this and don't try to make out that their products will be right for everyone.

      Out of curiosity, what did you move to? Basecamp is too expensive for me, so I'm on the lookout for something that that does that kind of job.

      Paul

      --
      Paul Leader
    8. Re:If you've never heard of them by Jellybob · · Score: 0

      You're (possibly deliberately) misinterpreting they're approach to feature requests.

      In general, they're very receptive to feature requests, but they don't implement things for one specific customer. If they get the same request repeatedly, from different customers though, they'll probably do it.

    9. Re:If you've never heard of them by The+End+Of+Days · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Stick a wiki up on a webserver. That's pretty much 90% of Basecamp anyway. Hell, that's pretty much 90% of all 37signals apps.

    10. Re:If you've never heard of them by nyargh · · Score: 2, Informative

      We use Basecamp at our small consultancy, and it is just great. We get daily turnaround times for any bugs/issues with the product, and having client exposure and notification on our todo lists and other project planning saves us a mountain of "status check" emails from our more neurotic clients.

      These guys have nailed the "do one thing, and do it well" philosophy of designing a product, and we have benefited greatly from decreased interruptions and happier, more informed clients.

    11. Re:If you've never heard of them by tuomoks · · Score: 1

      Sorry about that redundant - I forfeit my points by answering, I meant to add insightful but not enough coffee yet so my finger slipped.

      Yes - it is insightful!
         

    12. Re:If you've never heard of them by mini+me · · Score: 1

      Basecamp is closer to being a forum than a wiki.

    13. Re:If you've never heard of them by SoupIsGoodFood_42 · · Score: 1

      Web developer? Any decent website developer should have heard of them. A non-web developer might not have had any reason to heard of, though.

    14. Re:If you've never heard of them by SoupIsGoodFood_42 · · Score: 1

      If you really think that, then I think you have missed what makes them so successful. They pay a lot of attention to the interface and usability of their products..

    15. Re:If you've never heard of them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Stick a wiki up on a webserver. That's pretty much 90% of Basecamp anyway. Hell, that's pretty much 90% of all 37signals apps.

      Not really. To truly emulate the 37 signals apps, you'd need to install mod_throttle or some other way of inducing latency to make each page of the wiki take 10-15 seconds to load.

      I can't say if it's improved since we stopped using it, but my main memory of the experience of using Basecamp was how slow it was. Like 37 signals, my company sells a SaaS web application, though we have a completely different kind of application. For us, if a page is taking more than 2-3 seconds to render, we consider it too slow and try to improve the performance. Most of our pages will load in under a second when accessed over a LAN. Sometimes it isn't possible to make pages perform like that, though that is mostly just the reports using complex OLAP queries. Network latency and bandwidth can make pages take somewhat longer, but we still find it generally unacceptable for pages to take more than 5-10 seconds to load in a real-world environment, unless there's just a lot of data being sent to the client. Honestly...none of this is very hard to achieve.

      The 37 signals apps routinely took 10-15 seconds to load simple pages. Until they fix that, it's hard to take anything they say seriously. Perhaps they should listen more to what others have to say instead of pretending to be an authority on this kind of thing.

    16. Re:If you've never heard of them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No no, I said real languages. Embedded C, as it happens.

    17. Re:If you've never heard of them by nmg196 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      > Any decent website developer should have heard of them

      I've been a web developer for 10 years and I've never heard of them. Why should I have done if I've not used Ruby on Rails? What else have they done for example, in the ASP.NET world? Probably nothing.

    18. Re:If you've never heard of them by The+End+Of+Days · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that's the 10%

    19. Re:If you've never heard of them by Fulcrum+of+Evil · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That's the 10% that takes the other 90% of the time.

      --
      "We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
    20. Re:If you've never heard of them by szundi · · Score: 1

      Maybe he just thought you might be interested a bit in other areas of your profession because he is.

    21. Re:If you've never heard of them by szundi · · Score: 1

      Or they won't.

      Maybe they know better what users can use in a right way. Hey! It's simply possible. They do it for years, users don't :) When they start to make bad assumptions about these they will die out. Now it's not the case so they are right... at least about their loyal user base. They are what they need. Simple.

    22. Re:If you've never heard of them by jscotta44 · · Score: 1

      What is "ASP.NET"?

    23. Re:If you've never heard of them by jscotta44 · · Score: 1

      Excellent point and response!

    24. Re:If you've never heard of them by Unoti · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      If you're a 10 year veteran web dev, and didn't care enough about your craft to step outside of ASP.NET and at least explore Ruby or Python web dev, then you are arguably not a decent web dev. You'll disagree, and that's cool, but you are in fact a dinosaur.

    25. Re:If you've never heard of them by SoupIsGoodFood_42 · · Score: 1

      It's that kind of attitude which is why they are doing so much better than the average small web company. You really think that 10% is the easy part or that it doesn't make much of a difference to the user?

    26. Re:If you've never heard of them by SoupIsGoodFood_42 · · Score: 1

      Because most of what they talk about hasn't anything to do with a specific platform or language.

    27. Re:If you've never heard of them by SoupIsGoodFood_42 · · Score: 1

      Yeah, they should just add every feature that users ask for, like Microsoft Office, because that's a really lean, intuitive application to use.

    28. Re:If you've never heard of them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      a microsoft website?

    29. Re:If you've never heard of them by nmg196 · · Score: 1

      Why the hell would I waste time exploring Ruby and Python when I work for a company who's business *IS* ASP.NET? .NET is hard enough to keep on top of on it's own, without trying to keep on top of evolutions on all the other platforms. It would be a total waste of my time. It would be as useful to me as exploring what's new in the world of agricultural harvesting machinery.

    30. Re:If you've never heard of them by kliklik · · Score: 1

      Check out activeCollab.

      --
      guru in training
    31. Re:If you've never heard of them by zeropointentity · · Score: 1

      What else have they done for example, in the ASP.NET world? Probably nothing.

      Of course not, why would they? They bloody invented Ruby on Rails.

    32. Re:If you've never heard of them by Unoti · · Score: 1

      Because you might think of new, better ways of doing old things. Just being educated by other viewpoints can improve your approach to problems and give you a more comprehensive outlook on your craft. If your entire universe is your job right now, then that's all you'll be able to do.

      I used ASP.NET full time for a few years, and then did a couple of projects in Ruby on Rails, then Django. When I came back to ASP.NET there were a couple of things I did differently, and quite successfully, that were more similar to approaches I used in Python, even though it was still ASP.NET.

      If you're note even willing to entertain the idea of learning new things just for the sake of improving yourself and learning, then you're even more of a dinosaur than any of us might have guessed.

      "Success is dangerous. One begins to copy oneself, and to copy oneself is more dangerous than to copy others. It leads to sterility." - Pablo Picasso "LISP is worth learning for a different reason -- the profound enlightenment experience you will have when you finally get it. That experience will make you a better programmer for the rest of your days, even if you never actually use LISP itself..." Eric Raymond

  2. Meetings Suck by canUbeleiveIT · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm not sure that Fried's philosophy will continue to hold up if 37signals grows much more, but I like his point-of-view about meetings and work flow.

    I have found meetings to be an extraordinary waste of time in most cases, and often the result of lack of leadership and/or organizational ability on the part of those in charge. I was recently on the board of a very small non-for-profit charity that had weekly two-hour meetings. The "leader" of the organization claimed that he needed the two hours every week to "vision-cast," but--being a typical political flack--what he really wanted to do was hear himself talk and also to run every little matter past the board so that he could cover his ass instead of just making the decisions he was paid to make.

    I quit after about ten months of that. The organization folded soon thereafter when donors stopped giving due to a ridiculous administrative overhead.

    1. Re:Meetings Suck by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Not all meetings.

      I work for a company that has very few meetings -- basically, we do a Scrum-style meeting every day, and that's it. The rest is just impromptu discussions -- we're all close enough that if there's an urgent question, or something which can't be communicated well via Trac or email, we walk over and talk about it.

      Now, the Scrum alone might add up to an hour a week, but I think it's worth it -- makes it a lot easier to figure out who's stuck, and who can help, that kind of thing. And if it sucked, hey, it's over in 10 minutes.

      It sounds like what you had wasn't a meeting, it was a lecture. Lectures do suck.

      --
      Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
    2. Re:Meetings Suck by thePowerOfGrayskull · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I have found meetings to be an extraordinary waste of time in most cases, and often the result of lack of leadership and/or organizational ability on the part of those in charge.

      Such meetings are a waste of time and indicative of poor management. However, meetings can also be productive and useful tool - as long as they have a defined purpose, and someone who ensures that purpose gets met.

    3. Re:Meetings Suck by cowscows · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think you're right that with the right kind of leadership and organization, a company can keep formal internal meetings to a minimum and everyone will be happier because of it.

      If that works well all the time for 37Signals, then good for them. But it's important to realize that it works for them to a large degree because of the nature of their work. The "product" that they're producing is fairly simple in the sense that it can be done with a small in-house team. It's feasible for one individual to completely wrap their head around every aspect of a project if needed. That's not possible in every industry.

      There are many lines of work where you just need way more people. There are consultants, and engineers, and manufacturers, and code officials, etc.

      I know these guys are working hard, but I think they should step back and make sure they appreciate the relative freedom that exists in much of the software industry. It's far less accountable than most jobs and far less regulated. I have many days where I wish I didn't have to constantly deal with safety codes and governmental reviews.

      --

      One time I threw a brick at a duck.

    4. Re:Meetings Suck by Jack9 · · Score: 1

      Without our daily scrum meeting our flexible schedules and priorities would never be dealt with in a useful time frame. It seems silly, but teammembers really notice the lost productivity and direction when we can't coordinate with EVERYONE at some point during the day without IM'ing each other saying "what are YOU working on?" when the sprint plan just doesnt cover priority and there is interdependence.

      --

      Often wrong but never in doubt.
      I am Jack9.
      Everyone knows me.
    5. Re:Meetings Suck by pilgrim23 · · Score: 1

      I have been to many many meetings, but never any like you describe.

      --
      - Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.
    6. Re:Meetings Suck by thePowerOfGrayskull · · Score: 1

      Of those that I didn't run, I've had maybe three in the last couple of years - they're fairly rare ;) (I probably have about a 50% success rate in my own meetings.)

    7. Re:Meetings Suck by tuomoks · · Score: 1

      I used to work in a company like that before "Scrum" was even a word. 10 minutes, even the sales dropped in, helped a lot. We had several large customer projects going, too few people and still managed it. The difference - not scheduled Scrum meetings but it came a habit - couldn't be scheduled, we were just too busy to have meetings but somehow happened every day!

      Now - every and each project started with "brain storming", two days to two weeks depending on size of the project, always far away from office, we preferred a ski resort my previous employer owned. Those were basically 24h/day "meetings" where everything(?) was laid out - who does what, etc. Food, beer, sauna, whatever also available 24h/day - tough but fun and in five years all our projects very successful. And some of them were huge - changing the whole bank infrastructure to another platform - hw/sw, building a country wide ATM, bringing big manufacturing sites to "just in time" with global suppliers and markets, building a new trading center, and so on..

      Also, all agile, no titles, no managers, no leaders, etc - everyone was a resource! I miss that, seen that only once after that - another very large and successful OS project!

      IMHO - the problem today, be it Scrum, agile, whatever is trying to make it too formal! The execution must be formal for a reason, regulations, compliance, laws, documentation, etc but not how the results are archived! Really a "management" problem - just wondering?

      The Six Sigma, etc fail not because they are bad ideas but no CEO, CSO, CIO, Cxx or even a line manager and don't even mention marketing / sales has time in any decent size company for all the meetings, agreeing every small detail and explaining to everyone what they really think (if anything) about this and that - logistics, scheduling and costs go through the roof. Seen that causing huge problems (and lost projects) in too many large companies!

      And, please, don't get me started about certificates, are they Scrum or A+ or C**** or MS** or IT** or ISO***** or IEEE**** - I and maybe everyone else have a lot of "book knowledge" but no idea what it really means!

      But what I know - it definitely doesn't mean to follow something written down any and all time, all environments are different!

    8. Re:Meetings Suck by cerberusss · · Score: 1

      In my college time, I was treasurer of a study association. The meetings were quite long and I requested to let me chair one of the meetings.

      I ran it like a nazi. I stuck to the agenda, requested to discuss things outside the meeting, gave everybody a fair but limited talk time. Closed the meeting on time, cleanly lobbed off at the hour.

      People were very enthousiastic, "if only all meetings could be like that".

      However it was never requested to be chaired that way again. Maybe I was too blunt or something. But then again there are lots of people who also want to relax in a meeting and be able to vent things that aren't necessarily on the agenda.

      --
      8 of 13 people found this answer helpful. Did you?
    9. Re:Meetings Suck by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 1

      Also, all agile, no titles, no managers, no leaders, etc - everyone was a resource!

      Not quite the case here -- there are titles. Not really "seniority", but titles based on skills people have, and who to go to when you have a problem, or a question. I think it helps.

      But "everyone a resource" is absolutely true. A few days ago, I set up a dev environment for the CEO -- I suppose he has a bit more time, or it's just that more urgent to get it done, but he's actually doing some coding now.

      And this isn't him trying to show that he's "part of the team", or micromanaging -- there's nothing fake about it. He's actually getting stuff done.

      IMHO - the problem today, be it Scrum, agile, whatever is trying to make it too formal!

      There's a reason for that.

      Language changes how you think about things -- it even gives you a frame in which to think about things. It was one thing to identify some best practices about test-driven development -- but it becomes much easier to learn when you change the language, and start calling it behavior-driven development.

      And, please, don't get me started about certificates,

      Never saw one here. I didn't finish college -- the guy across from me didn't finish high school.

      It matters more what you can do.

      --
      Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
    10. Re:Meetings Suck by thePowerOfGrayskull · · Score: 1

      I think that for all that people complain about meetings, there's probably a large percentage who enjoy them - it gets them away from usual work, it can be a more relaxed environment, it kills a part of the day, etc...

  3. And why should we care? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    And wtf is Basecamp and Campfire?

    You could actually post some useful info in the summary, like what does the company do and what do they sell...

  4. So basically.... by sunking2 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    This thread will be nothing but one big slashvertisement for some company that nobody would otherwise know or care about.

    1. Re:So basically.... by anomalous+cohort · · Score: 1

      They do have a message about software development that you can read without purchasing any of their product. I have endorsed their book, Getting Real, and you can read my endorsement here without purchasing any of my product.

      Seriously, where is the line between information and advertising? IMHO, if the link takes you to a page where there is no possible way to part with your cash without going someplace else, then it is information. Have you been so betrayed by capitalism that you can't tolerate any exchange of money at all? How can you afford to eat?

    2. Re:So basically.... by NoNeeeed · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This thread will be nothing but one big slashvertisement for some company that nobody would otherwise know or care about.

      You mean, apart from the several hundred thousand readers of their blogs on management and software development.

      Or indeed many people who use Ruby on Rails? They are the guys behind that. Whether you use/like it, you have probably heard of it.

      Just because you don't know who they are, doesn't mean that others don't, and it doesn't stop what they have to say being interesting.

      Perhaps we should have no more articles that mention any companies, just in case you don't know who they are?

      --
      Paul Leader
    3. Re:So basically.... by SoupIsGoodFood_42 · · Score: 1

      Considering how much effort 37signals put into often neglected areas in the web development industry, such as interface and usability, it's no surprise that many of the Slashdot crowd haven't heard of them before.

    4. Re:So basically.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      lol, i love you sarcastic rhetorical guys... we have a dude like that in our office... i usually want to kick him in the nuts, god that gets annoying

  5. Who was fried? by splutty · · Score: 3, Funny

    Okay.... That title is just wrong, it immediately made me wonder what sort of talkshow this 'Focus' was where Jason was fried.

    I guess that goes a long way towards Fried's philosophy as well :)

    --
    Coz eternity my friend, is a long *ing time.
    1. Re:Who was fried? by Apagador-Man · · Score: 0

      Amen to that! I also thought someone called Jason had been cooked... Silly, silly title...

      --
      In the end, there can be only one!
  6. But... by Oligonicella · · Score: 4, Funny

    I don't care what Jason is fried on, getting high is not the answer.

    1. Re:But... by Odin's+Raven · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I don't care what Jason is fried on, getting high is not the answer.

      Dude, like seriously man - if getting high is not the answer, then you're asking the wrong question...

      --
      A marriage is always made up of two people who are prepared to swear that only the other one snores.
    2. Re:But... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sounds like getting high is this guys answer to things like, "do I get up his morning?"

      There is however some hope if he takes it to the extreme of "what do I have for lunch"

  7. It's true! by ScentCone · · Score: 3, Funny

    I was getting so much done this morning before I stopped to read this article.

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
  8. but his "campfire" sessions are just meetings by petes_PoV · · Score: 4, Interesting
    ... and just as annoying as a source of interruptions, too.

    It seems that he says one thing and then instantly contradicts himself. Yes, too many meetings are bad - as are interruptions (at least for the interruptee, presumably the interrupter achieves their goals). However, having someone continually IM'ing you (or whatever - all these things are basically as bad as each other) is just as much a distraction and source of interruptions.

    Oh yes, and making dumb statements like

    It's really hard to change that organization if you don't have the power to change it

    doesn't make him sound like he knows what he's talking about - either

    --
    politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
    1. Re:but his "campfire" sessions are just meetings by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 1

      IMs can be ignored, or postponed. Physical meetings cannot, unless you're the boss.

      Having not actually seen a 37signals app in action, I have no idea what a campfire session ends up being.

      --
      Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
    2. Re:but his "campfire" sessions are just meetings by Grey_14 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      As someone who has spent a lot of time in 'meetings' on IRC, I can tell you without a doubt that collaboration in a chatroom is much less disruptive to workflow than a real life meeting, and certainly not nearly as distracting,

      Also, his 'dumb statement' taken out of context like that does certainly sound pretty dumb, but it's a transcript of a live interview and sometimes people say things without having thought their exact wording out, (Which he states earlier in the interview, is why he prefers text mediums for communication), the paragraph above the quote means that what you quoted makes sense if you aren't a complete idiot (It's definitely not the best wording, but it's understandable). he means it's hard to change a traditional organization all at once, he then goes on to suggest ways to introduce change to those organizations even if you aren't someone who would have the power to directly implement those changes.

    3. Re:but his "campfire" sessions are just meetings by noidentity · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Oh yes, and making dumb statements like

      It's really hard to change that organization if you don't have the power to change it

      doesn't make him sound like he knows what he's talking about - either

      Are you kidding? It sounds like he has a good grasp of basic logic. Based on that statement alone, I'd feel confident consulting him for questions like "If it's raining and I'm outside without cover, will I get wet?" and "If my front door is locked and I don't have the key and nobody's home, can I get in?"

    4. Re:but his "campfire" sessions are just meetings by antic · · Score: 1

      "doesn't make him sound like he knows what he's talking about - either"

      The other clues were the "I don't know" comments interspersed throughout the transcript.

      --
      'Thats they exact same thing a banana wrench monkey.'
    5. Re:but his "campfire" sessions are just meetings by Sobrique · · Score: 1
      I share a house with 6 other geeks. We have an IRC server, and we basically all log in to a particular channel, most of the day.

      This allows us to indicate general status, and leave 'deferred feedback' communications with other house members, because they have a channel history. If one of my housemates is out, then he'll still see me suggsting going to our favourite noodle bar tomorrow, or that there's a bill pending for electricity, and I can't afford it this month.

      We basically have a day long 'meeting' in the sense that we're all looking at IRC when it suits us, but aren't getting interrupted when we're otherwise occupied. It's a very effective form of communication, because with anything larger than a trivial number, a communication synchronisation takes more time and effort.

    6. Re:but his "campfire" sessions are just meetings by SoupIsGoodFood_42 · · Score: 1

      IMs don't have to be as distracting as meetings since you can choose when to give them your attention. Perhaps they are interrupting to you, or in your particular company, but that doesn't make it the case for everyone.

  9. 37signals only uses Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Which really guts down on interruptions from employees running games and applications.

    Keeps em focused.

  10. If you've never had a meeting with them by Ostracus · · Score: 1

    Physical space and mandatory meeting. The bane of all geeks but just how necessary are they and in what situations?

    --
    Shai Schticks:"You don't make peace with friends, you make peace with enemies"
    1. Re:If you've never had a meeting with them by TheLink · · Score: 1

      They're actually not that necessary nowadays, with the exception of "ritualistic" meetings "Hi would you like to buy our company?/Hi I'm your new boss/Believe in The Company, Serve The Company With All Your Heart/Downsizing Plans".

      If I were a moderately evil boss, I'd expect people to be able to be in say 5 meetings at once via "instant messaging" conferences, and then get them to put the chat logs on an intranet site so I can see what they've been up to.

      You could in fact chair one conference while being part of many others.

      When an attendee gets interrupted, the rest do not need to repeat themselves and waste number of attendees * time - the person just scrolls up to see what he/she missed.

      I wouldn't care if you're coding or watching youtube as well, as long as it doesn't interrupt workplace productivity significantly.

      With this it'll be like those big multiprocessing jobs where real time = 10 seconds and cpu time = 2 weeks.

      e.g. real time = 5 hours, meeting idle time = 24 hours, meeting user time = 1 hour, coding time = 2 hours, youtube = 1 hour, "coffee/smoke breaks" = 1 hour .

      --
  11. Most Confusing Headline Ever by Setherghd · · Score: 1

    I thought Gordon Ramsay fell off his rocker and fried someone for interrupting him.

  12. #1 Way to Stay Focused by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't read Slashdot.

    1. Re:#1 Way to Stay Focused by chris_mahan · · Score: 1

      Wrong. The number one way to stay interested is for the work to be interesting.

      When slashdot becomes more interesting than the work, there's something seriously wrong with the interestingness of the work.

      --

      "Piter, too, is dead."

  13. Jason Voorhees was fried? by 1u3hr · · Score: 3, Funny
    Okay.... That title is just wrong, it immediately made me wonder what sort of talkshow this 'Focus' was where Jason was fried.

    I thought it was another Friday 13th sequel. They've done everything else to Jason without any permanent effect.

    And really, "37signals" "Basecamp", "Campfire"? They could have been rap groups for all I knew.

  14. I read it as by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Jason "Fried On Focus and Avoiding Interruptions" and felt sorry for the guy... now I feel like a sucker!

  15. The article is too long! by Zaatxe · · Score: 1

    I can't focus long enough to read it to the end...

    --
    So say we all
  16. Why I don't care by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why should I care about a company that uses a language that's so immature that buffers went unchecked and problems were abound. http://www.zedshaw.com/rants/the_big_ruby_vulnerabilities.html

    1. Re:Why I don't care by arevos · · Score: 1

      Despite the inflamatory tone of the parent article, Ruby is pretty immature and rough around the edges in many ways, so I feel your pain. However, since Rails will run under JRuby, you can always use that to avoid buffer overflows.

  17. WTF by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is some horro movie for Halloween, right?

    Like Freddie vs Jason, and Jason was fried...

    Wake me up when SciFi channel goes back to normal programming

  18. Considering it's all stolen tech... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    This guy stole the entire idea and format of Basecamp from a start-up back in 2003. Before 2003 he ran a web design firm. Suddenly, with no warning, no prior "wait'll you see what's coming" notices, two months after the start up first sent a demo of a program called "BaseCamp" that does project management, to a client of his company, 37 signals suddenly became a software company that released the first version of Basecamp in June 2004.

    Both systems are web-based, multi-user, project management software. Even the interface was laid out the same, and with the same functionality areas in it. Not surprisingly, the functional areas that were obviously necessary, but not yet implemented in the demo given to the client, also weren't present in the version Fried and his bunch released.

    Pure theft. I know, I worked for the start-up that got put out of business.

    1. Re:Considering it's all stolen tech... by SoupIsGoodFood_42 · · Score: 1

      Pure theft. I know, I worked for the start-up that got put out of business.

      Perhaps that might have held more weight if it hadn't been posted anonymously.

      Besides, it hardly seems like a real idea to steal, unless you also think that Amazon's one-click patent should be upheld. Did he steal any code? Why didn't the original business succeed?

    2. Re:Considering it's all stolen tech... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps that might have held more weight if it hadn't been posted anonymously.

      He has to post anonymously otherwise the aliens he worked for would swoop down and pick him up. You have no idea what its like working in those conditions. I know. I was there.

    3. Re:Considering it's all stolen tech... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, I could post under my name and account, but since putting this sort of thing in writing is tantamount to slander without a whole bunch of lawyers on my side, I'm not stupid enough to give them any ammunition. I happen to have worked for the company that wrote the original code. I happen to have inside information. The owner of the start-up never even knew about 37signals until I showed him the website. To say he was, well, pissed off -- would be an understatement. He spent three years working on the project, researching what went into it, how it should work, what it needed, etc. He spent time working with three companies to get input into the design. He spent months developing an interface and system that put it all together. And then he spent nearly a year with other coders putting it all into software.

      And then this guy came along and stole it all.

      This is the same problem I have with all the IP Nay-Sayers on the board. The work of an invention isn't the invention, it's the G** d*** research time. Anyone can say a system is obvious after the fact. Light bulb? Just put a tungsten filament in a glass bulb with a vacuum. What's so hard about that? Why'd it take 50 years after the common production of electricity for such a simple idea?

      This project is just like that light bulb. If it's so damn obvious, how come no one else has already done it. Project management isn't obvious. It's a very disciplined process (at least good PM is) that takes a long time to learn and develop. Then you build a system around it. Then you design software that automates 90% of that process. To do this, you spend thousands of hours of time working with others, researching, learning, coding, testing, recoding, testing some more, and working with users to make it all easy to use.

      Then some bastard walks in, takes the final design, reverse engineers the underlying data structures, and pumps out a near cost-free version in two months.

      He didn't bear the brunt of the costs up front, he didn't put in the time, sweat, or effort. He just jumped on the shoulders of giants and then blew the giant's head off with a shotgun, because he can offer the software at 1/100th the cost because he doesn't have to recoup development and research costs.

      The fact that the company we gave a demo software set to (under full NDA) was also a client of 37signals (they did their shiny web page) stinks to high heaven of code theft. Can I prove it? Nope, and that's why I'm posting here as an A/C and not in a courtroom with a lawyer helping the owner sue the tar out of Jason Fried. I mean, come on, the bastard didn't even change the name.

      The owner of the start-up is still paying off debt for those years of research and development to this day. He can't afford to complete his product because the company that was "ready to sign contracts" and write checks for six figures walked out the door. That means no business loans for further R&D and no coders to work on code. Like I said, Fried jumped on the shoulders of a giant and then blew that giant's head clean off.

      Am I bitter? You're damn right. I saw this as a great project, took a major pay cut to work on it, put in close to three thousand hours in a year to get a partial ownership stake. And then it was all gone in one week. Now I'm back to being a code monkey at an ISO 9000 corporation and seeing just how badly companies need a really good project management system that has more than just the beta functionality that we had coded. I make more salary, but I'd have rather had a chance to finish what we started. And that's the other cost of your "no IP" viewpoint. When someone steals the idea, they don't have the passion that created it in the first place. That's why 37signal's "Basecamp" doesn't have 1/10th of the functionality we had planned. We had a five year roadmap for new features. We had a future that would make the product outstanding. They don't even want to take user requests, because they just stole it and they don't have the passion or kno

    4. Re:Considering it's all stolen tech... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Aliens, no. You see calling someone a lying, cheating, stealing bastard in writing doesn't draw aliens waiting to suck out your brains. It draws lawyers with libel suits, and that's a hell of a lot more scary than any alien could ever be.

  19. Probably not lecture by Moraelin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    While I'll aggree with your main point, actually, it doesn't sound to me like he was having a lecture kind of meeting. A lecture at least involves someone, essentially, telling you, "I know how it's done, I decided it's done this way, I'll tell you in detail how." YMMV, but that's the basic idea. The meetings he's talking about, if I understood him right, are more the kind where someone doesn't want to be personally responsible for taking any decision. Quite the opposite. If he can't back out in dumbly applying some semi-irrelevant regulation or rule, he'll back out into, basically, "we all talked about it until everyone was too bored to give a shit any more, therefore we _all_ took that decision, therefore _I_ am not to blame." That is, if a decision is taken at all. Some end without anything being achieved whatsoever.

    --
    A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
    1. Re:Probably not lecture by canUbeleiveIT · · Score: 1

      While I'll aggree with your main point, actually, it doesn't sound to me like he was having a lecture kind of meeting. A lecture at least involves someone, essentially, telling you, "I know how it's done, I decided it's done this way, I'll tell you in detail how." YMMV, but that's the basic idea. The meetings he's talking about, if I understood him right, are more the kind where someone doesn't want to be personally responsible for taking any decision. Quite the opposite. If he can't back out in dumbly applying some semi-irrelevant regulation or rule, he'll back out into, basically, "we all talked about it until everyone was too bored to give a shit any more, therefore we _all_ took that decision, therefore _I_ am not to blame." That is, if a decision is taken at all. Some end without anything being achieved whatsoever.

      Bingo! Damn, you said it better than I did.

  20. I need to get my eyes checked by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 3, Funny

    I thought Jason was FIRED.

    --
    Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
  21. Up is really down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Jason loves to give Zen advice. Up is down, meetings are toxic--don't collaborate, features are toxic--don't satisfy your customers demands, etc.

    Right now 37 Signals has some very simple and, hence, scalable apps. Some customers love them, but others have moved on because the apps are too simple and don't integrate well with other non-37 Signal apps.

    Great strategy if you want to run a mysterious, cult-like commune, but not a good strategy for a business.

    BTW, Jason refuse to release any revenue numbers.

  22. Secret to success by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Their secret finally comes out: dead sheep!

  23. Self-fulfilling assertions strike again by Bovius · · Score: 1

    Thanks - I was hoping someone would start this thread. Now I can ponder causality and a cat that belonged to Schrodinger.

  24. Basic Philosophy.... by maz2331 · · Score: 2

    The basic philosophy here is:

    1. Cut the bullshit.
    2. Do the work, and focus on it.
    3. Make your product reflect your vision.
    4. Sell to users who want simple "just works" apps.
    5. Minimize overhead relentlessly, eliminate buracracy. (See #1)
    6. Avoid expensive outside PR and other overhead (See #1 and #5)
    7. Keep the vulture capitalists at bay. (See #1, #3, #5, and #6)
    8. Start small and assemble team sharing common basic vision. (See #1, #3, #5, #7)
    9. Profit.

    It all makes sense, at least at a small scale. Overhead, indecision, and excessive levels of non-productive activity hurt productivity. Without productivity, you end up without a product, or end up with a poor one. With too much overhead, you need higher revenues just to break even.

    Some organization and rules are necessary, but keep them minimal and focused on the end result. Push decisions as close to the actual work as possible to avoid paralysis, but keep a feedback loop in place to correct bad decisions.

    Really, it all boils down to two words: "Work Efficiently".

    1. Re:Basic Philosophy.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are missing a philosophical principle:

        8.5: ???

  25. I'm fried by Cinnaman · · Score: 1

    Wow, focussing and avoiding interruptions was too much for this Jason person.
    Or was he given the chair on a television show called Focus?

  26. Tom DeMarco by wonkavader · · Score: 1

    It is remarkable how much he sounds like Tom DeMarco. If you like what Jason's saying, run out and buy a couple of books by Tom DeMarco.

    Peopleware, Managing Programming People, etc.

  27. What a tool. by gilgongo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sigh. The guy is about 30 years old. His company has 10 people after having existed through one of the biggest economic booms of all time, and they make software and sell it.

    I ask you: how could you NOT run a company like that in the way he is describing? Nobody would attempt to run a whelk stall like IBM, so how is this news?

    Be that as it may, he says they are about to become 12 people. Let's hope they're all as good at doing their jobs as they think they are, because pretty soon they will know the answer. Personally, I would not want to be Jason Fried, and I certainly wouldn't want his name.

    --
    "And the meaning of words; when they cease to function; when will it start worrying you?"
  28. 10 people? by rtechie · · Score: 4, Funny

    37signals is a 10 man shop. Why is this guy considered an organizational guru given that he runs such a tiny organization? Your average World of Warcraft raid beats the organizational challenges he is facing.

    1. Re:10 people? by kjs3 · · Score: 1

      Exactly. Gawd do I hate these "gurus" who sally forth on the "right way" to do things without a clue in the world how things work when there are, say, 6,000 developers supporting a couple of dozen mission critical interconnected applications. Even worse when you get some junior developer grousing about "gee, I read this dudes blog and is organization is so much cooler than mine" not realizing the dude has to worry about 10 folks, nothing mission critical and only self-imposed deadlines.

  29. Mission Statement: "Let's re-invent the wheel!" by omission9 · · Score: 1

    Does nobody in IT have any sort of long term memory?
    Why is it, like, 3 people in total have called them out for producing junk? Campfire is irc in a web page!

    For the past ten years I have seen group after group re-invent the wheel in the language du jour. Remember jThis and jThat followed by pyThis and pyThat? Well now we have This and That implemented in Ruby. Genius!

  30. Did anyone else misread the headline? by Hamoohead · · Score: 1

    I thought "Focus" was a new pharmaceutical to cure attention deficit disorder.

    --
    "If your parents never had children, chances are you wonât either." -Dick Cavett
  31. Umm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think I know where it's embedded..

    1. Re:Umm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In YOUR MOM, of course.