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[Podcast] Episode #19: A day in the REWORK writing process
Time: 23:48 | 08/10/2010 | Download MP3
Summary
In March, 2009, Jason, David, and Matt gathered to edit an initial draft of REWORK. The meeting was recorded and this episode features audio clips of the collaboration.
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Taylor Weibley joins 37signals as operations manager
Taylor Weibley has joined 37signals as our new operations manager. Taylor comes from a long stint at Engine Yard where he helped build up their support department. He’ll be adding Tampa, Florida to the now long list of cities that the 37signals team pings from.
We’re really looking forward to having Taylor take on a slightly more methodical approach to our growing infrastructure and make sure we keep adding 9’s to the uptime stats. He’ll also be heading up new projects like improving performance of our applications in Europe and the rest of the non-US world as well as multiple datacenter deployments.
Welcome onboard, Taylor!
This nice “you’ve been gone” email reminder from Dropbox is a smart attempt to reach out to on-the-fence folks (I signed up a few months ago but haven’t used the product in a while).
At most companies, there’s plenty of emphasis on acquiring new customers — but that means you can easily wind up overlooking folks who signed up for your product but still aren’t 100% on board yet. An email like this offers a good reminder: A customer retained is worth just as much as a customer acquired.
The critical thing about the design process is to identify your scarcest resource. Despite what you may think, that very often is not money. For example, in a NASA moon shot, money is abundant but lightness is scarce; every ounce of weight requires tons of material below. On the design of a beach vacation home, the limitation may be your ocean-front footage. You have to make sure your whole team understands what scarce resource you’re optimizing.
—
Fred Brooks, author of The Design of Design.
Fred Brooks, author of The Design of Design.
This week in Twitter
A few of this week’s 37signals staff posts at Twitter.
dhh: Just saw an old piece of ascii art for my old mid-90’s Amiga BBC Electronic Confusion: http://yfrog.com/hqjz6p – those were the days
sstephenson: Apple’s battery charger is diminutive next to the competition: http://twitpic.com/2blt5x
sh: People in my personal life don’t seem to realize: I email all. Day. Long. The last thing a plumber wants to do after work is fix a toilet.
mattlinderman: Timelessness in graphic design: An in-depth examination of decades of National Geographic magazine design. http://bit.ly/9QrlR9
jasonfried: The administrator-to-student ratio at major universities has doubled since 1976: http://bit.ly/bGGcX2
kiranmaxweber: Any time spent in @textexpander is time well spent.
uptonic: Decision time: Are you chilling or relaxing? Pick one and stick with it.
jasonfried: Jazz lovers – check out the great selection of streams at jazzradio.com: http://www.jazzradio.com
jamis: illustrating is so, so much harder than programming. But I’m learning a ton.
dhh: Someone did a video application for our iOS position. Just a quick web cam presentation of themselves and an app. Great way to differentiate
longstride: my BIG news!! RT @@37signals: Please welcome with us our new support ninja, @longstride! Today’s his first day!
mattlinderman: Back in the 70s, after 2 decades of cool temps, “Global Cooling” theory received attention in Time & Newsweek. http://bit.ly/r74xi
joshpeek: I respect @github’s attitude towards new feature requests. http://bit.ly/ax20HM Product design is not a popularity contest.
The average American watches four hours of television each day. That’s 28 hours per week. Which is almost like having another full-time job. No wonder it’s so tough for people to get things done.
Big Think interview with David
Big Think Interview With David Heinemeier Hansson:
Some of the questions asked:
What inspired you to create Rails?
Ruby on Rails lowers the technical expertise necessary to create a web application; is expertise becoming less critical?
How simple can things get in terms of programming?
Do you think any company can dominate the Web the way Microsoft dominated computers circa 1992?
What do you make of Apple’s mandate that all apps for iOS devices be written in specific languages?
There’s a transcript of the interview available and this summary (excerpted below) offers links to specific parts of the video.
Hannson also talked about the highly anticipated release of Rails 3, saying they’re “incredibly close” to unveiling it. And he admitted to us that he feels “let down personally” by Apple’s choice to restrict what programming languages can be used for smart phone apps. It was an “insecure move,” which Hansson finds strange because Apple is “winning on their merits.” It’s another case of absolute power corrupting absolutely, just like with Microsoft in the 90s, even though now Microsoft is “irrelevant” to Hansson.
Jason Rehmus joins 37signals
We’re excited to welcome Jason Rehmus to the support team at 37signals!
Jason (“JR”) joins Sarah, Michael and Kiran to make sure potential customers, current customers and loyal customers are happier every time they talk to us. Adding a fourth person to support, gives us the breathing room that’s going to be required to move support forward. Our design, programming and operations are revered – it will take time, but support is next in line.
Jason continued the 37signals signals tradition with a unique job application at 37signalsNeedsAnotherJason.com – NOTE: We do not. ;) – similar to the ones created by Jason Zimdars, Craig and John. Jason first applied to a support position with 37signals in 2007 and impressed us with every email, call and in person meeting. Jason really loves helping people.
Please join us in welcoming Jason!
The Periodic Table avalanche
It is only a matter of time before we have a periodic table of periodic tables.
The Periodic Table of Irrational Nonsense.
The Periodic Table of Mad Men.
The Periodic Table of Swearing.
Also, the Periodic Table of Awesoments. [via JK]
Update: There already is a table of tables! [thx DG]. Internet, I was foolish to doubt you.