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