Work Less, Give Your Customers Less... and Succeed Like 37Signals - Bill Taylor - The Diigo Meta page

• 06 Aug 08
  

  jason bushman
• 18 Jun 08
  

  PG Holmlov

  Innovation & diffusion 0mvarldenIntnl 0mvarlden

  • “When you’re competing against companies that have so much more, the only answer is to do less,” Jason and David told me. “Do less than your competitors to beat them. Instead of one-upping other companies, one-down them. Instead of out-doing other products, under-do them.”
    
    I get it, I responded: Less is more, right? Jason and David shook their heads. “No, less is less—because more is not better! Everyone tries to do too much: solve too many problems, build products with too many features. Our goal is to do less, to build half a product rather than a half-assed product. So we say ‘no’ to almost everything. If you include every decent idea that comes along, you'll just wind up with a half-assed version of your product. What you really want to do is build half a product that kicks ass.”
  • “When you’re competing against companies that have so much more, the only answer is to do less,” Jason and David told me. “Do less than your competitors to beat them. Instead of one-upping other companies, one-down them. Instead of out-doing other products, under-do them.”
    
    I get it, I responded: Less is more, right? Jason and David shook their heads. “No, less is less—because more is not better! Everyone tries to do too much: solve too many problems, build products with too many features. Our goal is to do less, to build half a product rather than a half-assed product. So we say ‘no’ to almost everything. If you include every decent idea that comes along, you'll just wind up with a half-assed version of your product. What you really want to do is build half a product that kicks ass.”
• 12 Jun 08
  

  Jan Gondol

  • “When you’re competing against companies that have so much more, the only answer is to do less,” Jason and David told me. “Do less than your competitors to beat them. Instead of one-upping other companies, one-down them. Instead of out-doing other products, under-do them.”

    
    
    

    I get it, I responded: Less is more, right? Jason and David shook their heads. “No, less is less—because more is not better! Everyone tries to do too much: solve too many problems, build products with too many features. Our goal is to do less, to build half a product rather than a half-assed product. So we say ‘no’ to almost everything. If you include every decent idea that comes along, you'll just wind up with a half-assed version of your product. What you really want to do is build half a product that kicks ass.”

  • It’s a provocative challenge to a business culture addicted to more—whether that’s features of finances. “Revenue growth in and of itself is not a goal,” Jason and David insist. “We are about profits—profits per employee. And growth forever is not sustainable. There is a right size for certain things, at least if you want to do them well.”
  • 2 more annotations...
  • • push themselves to spend less money and hire fewer colleagues. They also insist on working fewer hours. The company recently adopted an official four-day workweek, the better to keep everyone fresh, energized, and forced to avoid distractions.
    • Do one thing, do it right, and you cannot fail. Bill is correct in that the more you try to be everything to everyone the greater chance of disappointing your customers and the greater chance of failure.
• 06 Jun 08
  

  Joel Liu

  I get it, I responded: Less is more, right? Jason and David shook their heads. “No, less is less—because more is not better! Everyone tries to do too much: solve too many problems, build products with too many features. Our goal is to do less, to build half a product rather than a half-assed product. So we say ‘no’ to almost everything. If you include every decent idea that comes along, you'll just wind up with a half-assed version of your product. What you really want to do is build half a product that kicks ass.”

  37signals culture

• 05 Jun 08
  

  Brent Sordyl

  There’s no question that 37Singals is succeeding. The company doesn’t just have customers, it has raving fans, and its leaders are certified Web celebrities.

  37signals rubyonrails

Would you like to comment?

Join Diigo for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.