One of my all-time favorite web apps is Basecamp, a project collaboration tool from 37signals. So I enjoyed reading the story behind Basecamp on this Happy Birthday – Basecamp Turns Five! post on the Signal vs. Noise blog.
Here are a few great comments about communication, collaboration, projects and software from the post by Jason Fried……
We built Basecamp because our projects and client communications were a mess. We were using email to update our clients. That works for about 5 minutes, then goes from ripe to rotten pretty quicky.
Projects aren’t about charts, graphs, stats, and reports. Projects aren’t broadcasts. Projects are about people and communication and collaboration. Projects are about back-and-forth, give and take.
We also didn’t really like the idea of “management.” Management is hard work. Management is administrative. Management gets in the way. Collaboration better described what we were after.
One of the most rewarding things has been showing people that there’s a different way, a better way. Software doesn’t have to be a pain in the ass. Software doesn’t have to get in the way. Software isn’t about feature lists and sensational promises. Software is a concise set of tools that serve as an extension of your own mind. Great software lets you get things done and then it gets out of your way.
I consider Jason Fried of 37signals to be one of the most brilliant minds in business and systems development today.
Brilliant in a simple, back to the basics kind of way. It is hard to explain. Just read the free online book Getting Real from 37signals and you will understand what I mean.
In March, Jason shared some of his views on how to do business at a SXSW session in Austin, TX.
He offered up 8 questions that must be asked about work……..
- Why are we doing this?
- What’s the opportunity cost?
- Is it really worth it?
- What problem are we solving?
- Is this actually useful?
- Are we adding value?
- Will this change behavior?
- Is there an easier way?
Jason blogged about these questions here.
The Go Big Always blog has a nice post about the ‘naysayers timeline of technology in the workplace’.
And a great follow-up post about ‘Norman Naysayer’. You might know a ‘Norman Naysayer’ or two or maybe you work with a whole team of ‘Normans’.
The ‘naysayers’ said…….
- there is no way email will work in the workplace
- we can’t let employees have internet access at work
- Instant Messaging is too distracting for the workplace
And now, those same ‘naysayers’ are saying that there is no place for Social Software and Web 2.0 tools in the workplace.
My prediction…..
- Blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts will become a large part of internal corporate communications.
- Twitter-like tools will be used by groups of employees and project teams to keep everyone informed of what others are doing.
- Basecamp-like tools will be used by project teams for organizing, managing, and collaborating on projects.
- Some type of Facebook-like, LinkedIn-like tools will be used for internal networking.
- Employees will have personalized, customized home pages like iGoogle and Netvibes. Employees will be able to add modules/widgets to their home page that contain enterprise information, data, charts, and graphs that are tailored to their specific job function.
It won’t happen overnight. But, I promise you, the ‘naysayers’ will be proven wrong……again.
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