I’ve been reading the book “Getting Real”, written by the good people at 37signals. They’ve adopted a no-nonsense approach to building webapps, as described in their own words:
“Getting Real is about skipping all the stuff that represents real (charts, graphs, boxes, arrows, schematics, wireframes, etc.) and actually building the real thing.
Getting real is less. Less mass, less software, less features, less paperwork, less of everything that’s not essential (and most of what you think is essential actually isn’t).
Getting Real is staying small and being agile.
Getting Real starts with the interface, the real screens that people are going to use. It begins with what the customer actually experiences and builds backwards from there. This lets you get the interface right before you get the software wrong.
Getting Real is about iterations and lowering the cost of change.
Getting Real is all about launching, tweaking, and constantly improving which makes it a perfect approach for web-based software. Getting Real delivers just what customers need and eliminates anything they don’t.”
Now, this approach is not going to work for developing all types of software, but it is a good one for developing web applications focused on the user experience, and applies especially well to small startups. I’m not sure I agree that software design should always start with the user interface (these guys started as a design agency), but I agree that it is very important to understand how the user is going to interact with the application from the start. The ideal situation is to be building software to solve your own problems. You’ll be a user yourself and therefore have full understanding and insight into the needs, and you’ll have the passion to build great software to fulfill those needs. Unfortunately, most of the time we’re building software to solve other people’s problems - problems that we don’t fully understand - and that’s when things go wrong.
I’ve worked for a software company for almost 10 years now (gosh…time flies), and lots of things these guys have to say really strikes a chord. Keep the team small, less meetings about meetings, less features, get a working prototype running early…these are well known mantras. But the book also offers views that I found refreshing. I’ll mention a few:
Constraints drive innovation. Working under tight constraints (budget, time, etc.) forces us to be creative - to find simpler, faster, easier ways of achieving what we want. This should also force us to focus on the things that really matter, the features that are really important, and ignore the rest.
Pick an enemy, take sides. This is so true. When you’re building a product, don’t look at what the your most successful competitors are doing and then try to copy that and add a few extra features (or lower the price). Pick a product that you don’t like, and focus on doing things differently. Get rid of all the unnecessary crap. And most importantly, take sides. The best software has a vision. People are not just buying a set of fancy features, they are buying into an approach. Decide what your vision is, and run with it. If you try to please everyone, you won’t please anyone.
Don’t be afraid to say no to features requests! It is important to listen to your users, but if you always implement every feature your users ask for, the software will end up in a mess. Always say no initially to a feature request. If it is important, it will keep cropping up, and your users will not forget to remind you. That’s when you implement the feature. But remember, once you add a feature, you’re stuck with it. So choose your features wisely!
I’m not going to give away all the secrets that the book has to tell, instead I recommend you get your hands on a copy. Getting Real is a good, motivating read for anyone developing web applications, or thinking about starting up a company for that purpose. From here you can buy the PDF, buy the paperback, or read the book online for free.
