2010: The year of the products
2009 was definitely the year of infrastructure at 37signals. We put in a lot of work behind the scenes to improve our hardware, software, and security setup. We also launched our biggest infrastructure project to date: 37signals ID. Infrastructure improvements are never over — we’ve got at least one big one brewing right now — but 2009 saw big progress on that front.
2010 is going to be the year of our products. With some of the big infrastructure projects behind us, we can focus more of our energy on improving our products. We’ve got some great ideas for new features, integrations, UI design/redesigns, streamlining common flows, etc. We have some new product ideas we may explore as well.
A new way of working
At the heart of the product renaissance is a new way of working. In the past each person at 37s has been pretty isolated. Everyone pretty much worked on their own own project. There was some overlap in a few spots, and occasionally a small team might come together to tackle something big, but most of the time it was every man for themselves.
We also had a tendency to pull people in different directions. We might ask someone to work on A, but then a few days later ask them to pitch in on project B, and then also ask them to help fix bug C. That makes settling into a focused zone really difficult.
In 2010 we’re going to change that. Here’s how: