08 May 2003 | MegaGrunt said...

Espouse the benefits of baroque and rococo Web design.

(Only joking - keep up the good work!)

08 May 2003 | Steve said...

I would do what all good CEOs these days do: Make it sound as if the business has a great future while I'm secretly emptying out the bank accounts and making sure I walk away with an assload of money while the rest of you go on unemployment.

Seriously, I wouldn't know enough about how you do things these days to really have anything scream out at me that you should do differently. You guys were great to work with when I did so three-four years ago (back at telstreet), and unless you've drastically changed since then, it seems to me that you're pretty well on the right track now.

Some possible suggestions: Usability's often a tough sell; trying to show some concrete return-on-investment cases would be good. And there's probably bigger opportunity in doing the sorts of analyses and fixes you do for internal applications than for consumer-facing ones. For whatever reason, companies seem to get the idea of efficiency for themselves, but not for their customers.

08 May 2003 | Steven Garrity said...

If I were CEO for a day I would move the company, at great expense, to be closer to me.

08 May 2003 | Benjy said...

I'd give myself a job once my tenure of CEO ended so that I wouldn't have to return to the present one.

08 May 2003 | JF said...

And there's probably bigger opportunity in doing the sorts of analyses and fixes you do for internal applications than for consumer-facing ones.

We've actually been doing a lot of private intranet/extranet and heuristic usability analysis projects lately. That's one of the reasons we haven't updated our portfolio recently -- we can't show the private stuff!

08 May 2003 | John Jonathan Kopanas said...

I think you might want to ask the question another way. What is your objective? How do you want people to perceive you? Only when we know this can we tell you if you have achieve your goal or are being successfull at it.

Another problem with I came across while trying to answer the question was big company vs small company. Looking big versus looking small. You look small and you are proud of it. Natural progression would lead one to want to become big and start to act like the big guys but that would kill everything that makes you, you. Do you need to look big? For some reason inside my head you should want to but maybe that is just a natural thing that a small successfull company has to fight to prevent themselves from becoming like the big guys. I have to think about this one a little longer.

Some things that I think you should add to your site as a selling technique include:
- how usability affects search engine placement
- where you fit into the big picture. For instance do companies still have to hire a graphic artist after they hire you or do you do that as well i.e. that is part of your solution.
- your style seems to use very little amount of graphics, so are your pages quicker to load, yes, then does quicker loading pages also play a role in keeping people on your site? In Europe, at least Greece, high speed is really slow speed :-). (Just got back from there)

I could go on and on but I don't want to bore you :-).

I hope this helps.

08 May 2003 | John Jonathan Kopanas said...

(continued)

Just as a side note, I want to thank you guys very much for all your hard work. You have inspired me and taught me that less is more. Well, at showed me that less is more :-). Marty Neumeier, the author of The Brand Gap, first taught me that less is more.

Maybe that is another thing you can show people.

08 May 2003 | MadMan said...

Insufficient data. Cannot compute.

In English, that means I don't know about how your current business is going, whether you're making enough money, whether you have enough work to keep you occupied all the time, what kind of productivity your employees show, whether there are certain things you're better at than others, whether you think hiring more people is a good idea, whether you plan to expand your skills/services, etc.

You see what I'm getting at?

Whenever one faces a "what should I change" question, the correct question to ask then is "does anything *need* changing?" and if the answer is "yes", then ask "why". There you will find the answers you seek.

08 May 2003 | 8500 said...

Usabilty folk and info architects love you guys but this is not who buys your services. Pick a client that you would love to work with but haven't been able to win over and ask them what you should be doing differently.

08 May 2003 | JF said...

I know I haven't given you much to go on, I was just curious. Never mind.

08 May 2003 | Chris said...

Didn't you mean to ask? What is your perception of our company and what do you find unique about us?

08 May 2003 | jarrod said...

I'd try to find a way to start up a subsidiary company that would offer comparable web designs geared towards smaller businesses. May not be financially feasable, but small businesses need excellently designed sites too :)

08 May 2003 | steve said...

... start up a subsidiary company that would offer comparable web designs geared towards smaller businesses. May not be financially feasable ...

You don't know the half of it. I worked for just such a company a couple years ago. Completely custom sites for small- and mid-sized businesses. At the peak, we had about 35 employees and 250+ clients (about half were "active"). Sounds good, but the truth was that we'd do just as much planning and development for the $5,000 projects as we did for the $50,000 ones ... and the latter were few and far between. And we didn't have the luxury of turning away the smaller projects because management thought building the client base was more important than being significantly profitable at the end of a project.

The quality of clients' sites never suffered, but the company's growth strategy didn't align with the tough-sell market of the small- and mid-sized business.

09 May 2003 | Jesper said...

I'd beat my head against the wall for not seeing the "CEO must perform obligatory gangsta rap concert on first day of work" clause.

09 May 2003 | fajalar said...

I would work on a plan to grow the company. While I don't agree with some of the things they do, Human Factors International is still doing good business despite the economic downturn/slump/implosion. I'd be offering the training class more often. Publishing more research. Build into contracts that a case study (with sensitive company info removed) is part of the deal.

I understand your curiosity. It is good to ask, and this is certainly a supportive environment. Even if nothing needs to change, it is always a good idea to evaluate.

You guys do good work, maybe you just need to do more.

09 May 2003 | Don Schenck said...

I'd put a huge public relations effort into motion. I'd have you guys re-design some major sites (Amazon, MSNBC, CNN, etc) and then contact the media - print, radio, tv, all of 'em - and point out what we've done. I'd make "good design" a Crusade-type issue.

I'd form relationships with industrial design firms, just to further the crusade. I'd work to get all America, even all the world, to think about design.

I'd end up on Leno or Letterman, and when I sat down, I'd immediately point out ways they could improve their set and their show.

In short, I'd make a big splash.

And I'd have 37signals supply me with plenty of Padron 1964 Anniversary Torpedo cigars (a great design all around, and a wonderful flavor).

09 May 2003 | Don Schenck said...

P.S. Those Padrons run about $16 a piece. I'll take all you can get me! ;-)

09 May 2003 | Martin said...

Find out how you get so many people to comment on your blog posts.

09 May 2003 | Ben said...

Less contingency design evangelism, more 37better examples. In other words: less talk, more rock.

09 May 2003 | fajalar said...

Perhaps tout the use of Meetup.com in many of the Democratic presidential campaign Web sites. Of course, some people might think this a detractor.

Dean, and Hart (although he is out now) are using it.

09 May 2003 | Ben said...

I would also team up with usability/IA evangelists to actually be the people that do the work the way it's supposed to be. Alot of people/places consult and advise on how to do things right, but can't actually produce the actual product (for example: Jakob Nielsen waxes on usability/design, yet has never made his own site good.) I would place myself in the pockets of the consultants, so it would be like, "Here are the ways to do things right. Here are some people who can already do it right if you don't want to/can't do it."

09 May 2003 | ~bc said...

I'd open a Boston branch office. Lots of companies out here who could use your help. Then find people who read your weblog in Boston, and offer them the first chance to staff it. Then I'd see about Steve's PEI office... several years down the road... ;-)

You know who to contact. As soon as my DNS catastrophe ends and my site and email are back up. GRRRRR....

09 May 2003 | fajalar said...

Boston?! No, Central Illinois. Lovely Central... um. Nevermind.

09 May 2003 | jarrod said...

I'll second the PEI vote. We're small, but we'll win you over with our extensive fan base :)

09 May 2003 | dc said...

post a site map and search box on http://37signals.com/

13 May 2003 | concrete said...

Two pronged approach:

* Spread the gospel; publish a book.

* Set up "charities" which fund DOS attacks on flash-based sites, etc.

Or, just the first prong.

13 May 2003 | whinnie said...

take a basic psych class to understand why your "37better" series only alienates potential clients? it's very easy to tear down sand castles... don't tell the world how good you could be if given the chance. do it with real clients and talk about that.

14 May 2003 | JF said...

take a basic psych class to understand why your "37better" series only alienates potential clients?

FYI, the 37better series has earned us more work than anything else we've ever done.

04 Nov 2003 | Osoyoos said...

31 Jan 2005 | compatelius said...

bocigalingus must be something funny.