Business lessons from a software company
by Andrew Smith on 25/05/07 at 2:31 pm
6 comments
Time magazine has an interesting article on the Web 2.0 software company 37Signals. Their 8 staff members (4 of which work remotely from different states) produce software used online by thousands of other businesses.
Here is a snippet from the article that relates to most of us:
37signals isn’t shy about dispensing one thing without charge: advice to small-business owners. On the company blog, Signal vs. Noise, Fried shares what he’s learned about the art of streamlined teamwork with more than 65,000 readers. First, kill all your meetings; they waste employees’ time. "Interruption is the biggest enemy of productivity," he says. "We stay away from each other as much as we can to get more stuff done." Use asynchronous communication and software instead to exchange information, ideas and solutions. Next, dump half your projects to focus on the core of your business. Too much time and effort are wasted on second-tier objectives. Third, let your employees decide when and where to work so they can be both efficient and happy. As long as their fingers are near a keyboard, they could as easily be in Caldwell, Idaho, as in Chicago.
We are pretty good at having lots of meetings. It may be bad for productivity, but face-to-face contact feels important for fostering a sense of team. Collaborating over e-mail and task systems seems a bit dry. Do you agree?
Andrew Smith is the pedantic systems guy behind Live Alchemy, a SA e-commerce company. Andrew writes for Ideate in an attempt to make the world a more efficient place. View more articles by Andrew Smith.
Frank
May 25th, 2007
I think that in our rapidly changing world, still nothing beats face-to-face communication.
Karin H.
May 25th, 2007
Burn-outs, that’s their future IMHO.
Nobody can keep that up and still enjoy his work? (Or do they select their employees on the talent of ‘loner’?)
Karin H. (Keep It simple Sweetheart, specially in business)
Fred
May 25th, 2007
The way to make an impact on Time Magazine readers, or any other audience for that matter, is to state an extreme. This is what they’ve done – and, although it sounds good, I reckon it’s a deception. As much as many of us hate meetings, much good comes from the simple experience of face-to-face contact. We can change the world by tapping into the spontaneous idea generation that occurs when people meet in a safe environment.
Working doggedly on your own can certainly result in increased productivity. However, just as importantly, thrashing a problem out in team brings about creativity and innovation.
I’ll wager anything that 37 Signals started out having loads of meetings before getting to the place where they find themselves now.
At some point they’ll probably slowly wander back to a happy median.
(…great post, Andrew)
Jason Fried
May 26th, 2007
“This is what they’ve done – and, although it sounds good, I reckon it’s a deception.”
This is not a deception. We believe and live what we say. We don’t say never meet ever, we say it should be the exception. We don’t say you shouldn’t tap someone on the shoulder, we say it should be the exception. Interruption has a huge cost.
You can find our more about our ideas in our book Getting Real at http://gettingreal.37signals.com
Fred
May 26th, 2007
Jason, I don’t doubt that you believe and live what you say – the word ‘deception’ may have been a bit harsh, but it’s meant to highlight that working separately is not a business panacea.
Both Ideate companies ( http://www.worldwidecreative.co.za and http://www.livealchemy.com) believe in working from home; we encourage self-management and our teams are deadline driven, not bound by a 9-5 restriction. We also have staff working remotely – our latest employee happens to live in India! .
However, we’re firm believers in getting together regularly and putting all our issues on the table; and I think the best work we actually do is at our Monday Morning Meetings and the Friday Morning Recaps…
This, however, is my humble opinion and it would be nice to have some huge successes to underline it..!
I realise that I stand on fragile footing: My company has a long way to go before achieving the huge strides 37signals has taken in 8 years.
Arthur
May 30th, 2007
I also read the Time article and had the same response.
It seems that they are trying hard to be Business 2.0 in a world which is increasingly relationally separate. My belief is that while home-based offices and flexible working routines are clearly the new paradigm, there is nothing that will make a business decline faster than a lack of clear face-to-face communication. Email, IM, VOIP and video-conferencing are all great tools but they cannot, and should not, replace human to human interaction. Body language, as an example, can convey so much and yet we lose this when we communicate remotely.
Is there a compromise here? Perhaps … but 37Signals is going to have to be careful that their desire to innovate and accommodate does not lead to ineffectiveness and lack of synergy.