Emphasis on participation and trust have been my favorite part about working 37signals this first month. It reminded me of my favorite director’s filmmaking process.

Traditional filmmaking, essentially: write a script, cast actors, go on set and film. British indie director Mike Leigh takes a different approach.

I start with no script. I do a brief of the film for myself, which is usually pretty fluid. Then I work with the actors for an extensive period creating the characters, through conversation, research and improvisation. Then we go out and invent the film on location, and structure it and shoot it as we go. To me, that’s what it’s all about. It’s about using film as a medium in its own right, not as a way of including the decisions of various committees (via MovieMaker).

It pays off. Leigh’s characters shine with curious originality. The sometimes strange dialogue and situations tend to provoke some response no matter how foreign to the viewer. I attribute this to level playing field; encouraging the cast to improvise and create.

An exemplary clip from ‘Naked’, developed almost exclusively by the two actors in a run of improvised sessions who then cull the cruft in together with the director.

This is a great example of how going in unprepared yields fruit, and how encouraging people to participate brings out the best in them.

Some recent posts at the 37signals Product Blog:

Basecamp
A file organizing strategy using Basecamp comments
Jamie and Sam are working on creating HTML emails for all the 37signals products. They setup a project for this in Basecamp, and they’re using the newly available comments on to-do lists in a cool way. There’s a to-do for every email template that needs to be updated and, once completed, the template itself is attached by Jamie as a comment for easy retrieval.

Highrise
Access Highrise on your BlackBerry using Bridge
Bridge is a subscription based BlackBerry application that “enables synchronization and convenient online and offline access to Highrise.”

According to Bill Simmons, overcrowding plagues NFL pregame shows. His explanation for why the trend keeps getting worse:

They don’t like firing people or eating contracts, but they loooooooove hiring people. Nothing makes a network exec happier than announcing, “We’re bringing in so-and-so!” And the sheer power of numbers makes shows feel like a bigger event than they actually are, so instead of choosing between Emmitt and Keyshawn, or Marino and Boomer, or Tiki and Bettis, they just keep both under the “bigger is better!” premise. Even if it inadvertently clogs up their shows and flies against the face of everything that has ever worked well on a Sunday pregame show.

Unfortunately, cable news networks seem to be picking up this fumble and running the wrong way with it. Here’s MSNBC’s wall of experts covering the Wall Street crisis. Jon Stewart labelled it “the decabox.”

This year I’ve spoken at about a dozen or so conferences and another dozen or so meetings or classes or gatherings.

What I’ve started to notice is that I’m better unprepared.

That doesn’t mean I go in without any idea of what I’m going to talk about. And it doesn’t mean I may not have some slides to support the ideas (although lately I’ve been speaking slide-free). But it does mean that I’ve stopped practicing.

Web 2.0 in NYC

This year I spoke at the Web 2.0 Expo in New York. I gave two talks — an hour talk on “The Things We’ve Learned at 37signals” in front of a few hundred people and a 15 minute keynote about “Software Curators” in front of a couple thousand.

I’ve sorta given the Things We’ve Learned talk before, but it had been many months. I didn’t practice at all. I had some slides prepared that I’d used before, but I didn’t review them prior to going on.

I’d never given the Software Curator talk before, so I practiced and practiced and practiced the night before. I was manic about it. I ran through it a few dozen times.

When it came time to give the “Things We’ve Learned” talk I was relaxed. I looked at the slides with everyone else and I just said what came to mind. I think it was one of my better talks.

When it came time to give the “Software Curator” talk, I was nervous. Not because I was speaking in front of a couple thousand people, but because I kept thinking about what I was supposed to say based on hours of practice. I kept reliving the practice, not living the moment. I keep reaching for the script in my mind instead of my current thoughts. I wasn’t happy with the talk at all.

Sad, sad economic news: Mother’s Cookies has shut down. Mother’s produced Iced Oatmeal cookies, Mini Chocolate Chip cookies, and the grand old favorite of many, the Iced Circus Animal cookies.

The iconic company started out as a one-man shop in Oakland, CA, by a newspaper vendor from San Francisco. As Foodlocker puts it, ”...He toiled all night baking cookies in a three square foot oven with a nightly capacity of about 2000 cookies or 150 boxes. These sold for $1 a box and his vanilla cookies were an overnight success.”

The success unfortunately could only weather 92 more years, and just last week Mother’s closed after seeking bankruptcy protection during these tumultuous times.

This isn’t some behemoth of an investment firm folding, its CEOs running off with arms full of millions. This isn’t a mismanaged bank selling themselves to some other giant bank. There was no bailout plan for this piece of American history.

I am sad. I am craving Circus Animal cookies, the pink and white frosting and rainbow sprinkles reminding me of much better, much happier times. I can’t buy them anymore.