Author: 37signals.com

Sculptor Alex Queral carves up phonebooks to create portraits. Above: James Brown. [via TC]

There are two kinds of companies I really like. One that ignores the competition entirely. And one that picks a fight. Method, and their new laundry detergent line, is a great example of the latter.

The new Method laundry product eschews the standard awkward, heavy, messy jug for a svelte, light, one-handed, easily stored, pump-powered dispenser bottle. It’s so much better.

They claim it works better too, but I’m not concerned about that for this post. Even if it works just the same, the form factor is a huge win.

I’ve run out of laundry detergent so many times because I haven’t felt like lugging home one of those big jugs when I was at the store (I often walk home and one of these jugs weighs nearly as much as everything else I’m buying). I’m always like “I’ll get it another time” and then it’s too late. But the new Method bottle is just like a bottle of water. There’s no barrier to carry.

The pump dispenser is perfect fit for laundry detergent. My pour spout detergent bottles almost always leak, drip, or get dirty from dust and grime that is attracted to the gooey viscous liquid. The pump ends all that. Four pumps for a normal load and you’re good to go.

Yes, there are more important problems in the world than laundry detergent, but I’m still glad Method picked a fight and kicked ass. This is a wonderfully designed product with a form factor has been taken for granted for too long. Good for them.

37signals Answers (recently launched) is our first new app built with 37signals ID integration. That means everyone involved is using real names and avatars.

And wow, what a difference it makes. Trading anonymity for accountability has led to radically improved conversations.

I’d point to a specific example but it’s more what’s missing now. A lot less antagonism and a lot more thoughtfulness and general politeness. Great to see.

A perfectionist is someone who finishes the backside of a drawer, which I consider completely unnecessary.

—An interview with Helmut Krone.

The First of Elvis [Vanity Fair] is an interesting profile of photographer Al Wertheimer’s days of shadowing Elvis Presley in 1956, the year Elvis-mania hit. Wertheimer describes what made Elvis different:

“He dared to move,” says Wertheimer. “Singers just did not move onstage in those days. You stood there like Frank Sinatra or Perry Como, and you sang from the waist up. Elvis broke all the rules. He moved his hips. He charged the microphone. He was introducing something that was just not acceptable to grown-ups and the more conservative groups. I have the William Morris guys getting him into a corner, and they’re giving him advice: ‘Now, Elvis, look, you get up there, you sing your song, but don’t move too much.’ Elvis dutifully listened. He wouldn’t argue with them. But once he got onstage he did what he wanted. And it created such a sensation. Not because you could hear him sing—there was too much screaming going on. The kids loved it. And the kids were the ones who bought the 45s.”

Funny to imagine those experts sitting Elvis down and telling him that he’s got to stop moving onstage. Shows you the problem with blindly following experts: They’re experts on the past. No one is an expert on the future.

Often, people “in the know” try to fit you into a mold of what’s come before. If it’s foreign, strange, or new from how they’re used to working, they’ll tell you it’s wrong. But innovators know to follow the screams, not the William Morris guys.

Alright, the big day is finally here! REWORK is now available in stores. You can order the US version online from the following booksellers:

• Amazon.com
• Barnes & Noble
• Borders
• Indie Bound
• 800 CEO READ

International versions are either out already or coming soon. Check with your local retailer. There’s also an audiobook version read by Mike Chamberlain (listen to a sample).

At the book site, you’ll now find a PDF that includes five essays and illustrations from the book:

Download PDF excerpt (1.7 MB)

And here’s the copy from the inside flap of the book, also a good primer on what you’ll find:

Most business books give you the same old advice: Write a business plan, study the competition, seek investors, yadda yadda. If you’re looking for a book like that, put this one back on the shelf.

REWORK shows you a better, faster, easier way to succeed in business. Read it and you’ll know why plans are actually harmful, why you don’t need outside investors, and why you’re better off ignoring the competition.

The truth is you need less than you think. You don’t need to be a workaholic. You don’t need to staff up. You don’t need to waste time on paperwork or meetings. You don’t even need an office. Those are all just excuses.

What you really need to do is stop talking and start working. This book shows you the way. You’ll learn how to be more productive, how to get exposure without breaking the bank, and tons more counterintuitive ideas that will inspire and provoke you.

With its straightforward language and easy-is-better approach, REWORK is the perfect playbook for anyone who’s ever dreamed of doing it on their own. Hardcore entrepreneurs, small-business owners, people stuck in day jobs they hate, victims of “downsizing,” and artists who don’t want to starve anymore will all find valuable guidance in these pages.

Press
Reviews are starting to pour in. Inc Magazine’s review of Rework:

Fried and Hansson are the Henry David Thoreaus of entrepreneurship. They preach doing less and embracing constraints…Written with genuine voice — a sometimes cranky and profane voice at that.

800-CEO-READ did a brief Q&A with Jason in advance of the book. Here’s what the site’s Jon Mueller had to say about the book:

This isn’t just a book about changing your business, it’s about changing how you think about business, and is, perhaps, one of the most important books you’ll read this year. Whether you’re admin or CEO, there are many things to learn, and this book offers some great insight into how we all can waste less time, offer people more value, and accomplish things we’ve not yet imagined.

More…

The competitor to be feared is one who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time.

—Henry Ford

Our new office, pre-construction. Lease signed today. Move in scheduled sometime in July. Full story, floor plans, and vision shortly.

Three terms that came up repeatedly during our San Diego retreat:

Slack
All the stuff that doesn’t fit neatly into bigger, concept-driven iterations. We save one of our programmer/designer teams for slack work — small scope things that build up, a bug that needs to be fixed, a quick support assist, etc.

YAGNI
You ain’t gonna need it. It’s easy to get carried away discussing how you could possibly do this, that, or the other thing. It’s harder to step back and ask “Are we really gonna need this?” The answer is usually no.

Low ceremony
When it comes to workflow or policies, stay away from posturing. Just stick loosely to a few guidelines and let good judgement lead you the rest of the way.

I ran some statistics on the last few years of Basecamp activity and uncovered this strange, recurring anomaly.

A long take is a single, unbroken camera shot that lasts much longer than a typical shot. While the idea’s been around for a long time, it feels like it has extra impact in today’s world of hyper-editing and constant angle changes. Some examples below.

It feels almost cliché to be linking up an Ok Go video at this point, but ya gotta hand it to the band; They have really mastered the art of making “event” videos. Check out this amazing long take video featuring the Notre Dame marching band:

Film directors have long known the power of the long take (Daily Film Dose offers up this list of “The Greatest Long Tracking Shots in Cinema”). One of the best is this scene from “Goodfellas,” where Ray Liotta and Lorraine Bracco walk through the Copacabana.

More music video examples after the jump.

More…

1. You can spend your own money on yourself. When you do that, why then you really watch out what you’re doing, and you try to get the most for your money.
2. You can spend your own money on somebody else. For example, I buy a birthday present for someone. Well, then I’m not so careful about the content of the present, but I’m very careful about the cost.
3. I can spend somebody else’s money on myself. And if I spend somebody else’s money on myself, then I’m sure going to have a good lunch!
4. I can spend somebody else’s money on somebody else. And if I spend somebody else’s money on somebody else, I’m not concerned about how much it is, and I’m not concerned about what I get.

Via Joshua Kaufman.

Time: 41:20 | 03/02/2010 | Download MP3

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The new business book from 37signals
REWORK hits stores on March 9. This episode features an extended conversation all about the book. We discuss why we wrote it, what it was like working with our publisher, the writing process, the illustrations, the cover, and more.

Related links and previous episodes available at 37signals.com/podcast. Subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or RSS.

Back in early January I posted about our new way of working in 2010. Instead of working individually in isolation as we had in the past, we’re breaking into small teams of three (two programmers, one designer). We’re keeping the teams intact for two months at a time. During those two months, the teams will work on four separate iterations, two weeks each. The goal is to drastically cut down scope, set short fixed deadlines, and focus on improving our products.

How’d it go?

Now that January and February are behind us, and March is upon us, we can reflect on the first two month term. So how’d it go?

It went incredibly well. It was the most productive two month period we’ve had in a long time. It wasn’t all perfect, and some adjustments were required, but all in all we definitely feel like we made the right call switching to this new way of working.

The results

Here’s some of what we accomplished:

• HIGHRISE: A major redesign of the “stream” in Highrise.
• HIGHRISE: Jump to a case or deal from the sidebar search.
• HIGHRISE: Merge companies to help deal with duplicates.
• HIGHRISE: Email notifications, daily digests, and vCards for your Highrise Dropboxes.
• BASECAMP: Stylized HTML email notifications for messages, comments, to-dos, files, and milestones.
• BASECAMP: Post new messages via email.
• BASECAMP: Redesigned message section with active threads highlighted.
• BASECAMP: Replies to assignment emails are posted as comments.
• CAMPFIRE: Formatted tweets in Campfire chats.
• CAMPFIRE: Image thumbnails in chat transcripts, redesigned transcript view, starring chat highlights for easy future access.
• LAUNCHPAD: Jump deep inside an app right from the Launchpad.
• 37id: New help section.
• ANSWERS: Launched 37signals Answers.

Plus a variety of bug fixes, minor updates, infrastructure improvements, and design and language tweaks.

What did we learn?

More…

We’re just a week away! REWORK is in stores March 9, 2010. Pre-order today from Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble, Indie Bound, and 800-CEO-READ.

• Coudal Partners for filming, editing, and production. Special thanks to Steve Delahoyde.
• Mark Greenberg for the custom music at the end of each clip.
• Williams Labadie for lending us their conference room for the day for the Conference Call. Special thanks to Molly Connolly, Jeff Pazen, and Jason Dittmer.
• Sandy Marshall for his passive-aggressive acting in Staying Late and irritating voiceover on the Conference Call.
• Jamie, Michelle, and Dawson for their “give us your best annoyed hallway walk” acting skills.
• And Nick Campbell for the crumple, drop, and slide motion graphics that close out each clip.

We had a blast putting these together. We hope you liked them.

On March 1 it’s always a good reminder to look back at marchFIRST — an example of what big money and power thought was a good idea just 10 years ago.

• The original USWeb was founded in 1995 by a group of former Novell executives (Joe Firmage, Toby Corey, and Sheldon Laube)
• USWeb went public with an IPO in 1997
• USWeb agreed to buy the offline advertising agency, CKS Group, in a stock transaction in September 1998
• Whitman-Hart acquired Four Points Digital LLC, Fulcrum Solutions Ltd., and BALR Corp in 1999.
• USWeb/CKS and Whittman-Hart merged in March 2000 to form marchFIRST, Inc.
• John Guynn, a copywriter at Mckinney & Silver, thought of the name marchFIRST.
• Bernard resigned in March, and marchFIRST went bankrupt in April 2001
• Two companies (Avenue A and Divine) acquired several offices in April 2001
• Whittman-Hart re-emerged as a separate company under Bernard
• USWeb is currently an Internet services firm copying the name of the original USWeb
• Divine purchased several companies that struggled after the dot com bust, including some remnants of marchFIRST
• Divine went bankrupt in Feb 2003 (in April 2003, Divine’s assets were sold at auction)
• Gus Mueller received his final paycheck from marchFIRST, 6 years late in the summer of 2007.

Are we smarter today?

Jason told me about hobo signs last week. Lots of really cool glyphs and pictograms here.

Speaking of “feature checklist dysfunction,” this piece compares Twitter to Google Buzz.

There’s so much Twitter can’t do…

That simplicity has made Twitter a huge hit. But “simple” usually means “limited,” and Twitter is no exception. Your messages can’t be longer than 140 characters. There’s no text formatting. You can’t paste in photos or videos. There’s no filtering of messages. No way to rank or rate people or their utterances. No way to send messages out to canned groups of people, like Family or Co-workers.

There’s so much Google Buzz can do…

Google Buzz overcomes all of that. It’s a lot like Twitter (with huge helpings of FriendFeed.com thrown in), but there’s no length limit on your messages. You can search for messages, give certain ones a “thumbs up” (you click a button labeled Like as you do in Facebook). You can forward messages by e-mail. Comments and replies to a certain post remain attached to it, clumped together as a conversation. You can link to your Flickr, Picasa or YouTube accounts, making it easy to drop a photo or a video link into a Buzz posting.

You can also post messages to your Buzz account by e-mail, which is great when you’re on the move.

So a traditional feature checklist comparison would lead you to say Buzz is the clear winner. But then there’s the problem that comes with doing all that stuff: confusion.

In eliminating the Twitterish bare-bones simplicity, Google stepped right splat into the opposite problem: dizzying complexity. At the moment, it’s not so much Google Buzz as Google “Huh?”s.

Sometimes all that stuff your product does NOT do is exactly why people want it.

We’re all meeting in San Diego this week:

It’s kind of pretty here. Shot from Torrey Pines State Park.

A look at the conference table during company wide meeting. Yes, even we meet once in a while.

REWORK is in the house. Everyone got an advance copy. The book comes out “for real” in two weeks.

Jamis brought peanut butter flavored marshmallows that he made at home.

Sam’s got one of the cool “Just Below Zero” colors of Field Notes.

We’re recording it all for the one team member who couldn’t make it.

Lots of tea gets drunk.

Arrogant Bastard Ale! David said he’s considering becoming the spokesman.

Haiti Earthquake Aftermath Montage: Khalid Mohtaseb was hired to shoot footage in Haiti for two international networks. This is a montage of his personal footage of the aftermath shot during his spare time in and around Port au Prince. Amazing stuff. It was shot with a Canon 5D Mark 2 and the slow pans are a result of using the Kessler Pocket Dolly. Sites where you can help and donate to Haitian relief. [via ZK]