SXSW - 10 Things We’ve Learned at 37signals - Jason Fried

I am a big fan of Jason and his company 37signals. I have heard him speak at SXSW many times, and I am alway blown away with his content! He rocks. Here are some tidbits that I came away with. (I missed the first 5 or so minutes)

Optimize for Now!
I love this!!! I walked in as he was finishing his though.

Question your work regularly
Why are we doing this?
What problem are we solving?
Is this actually useful?
Are we adding value?
Will this change behavior?
Is there an easier way?
Whats the opportunity cost?
Is it really worth it?

Read your product
Sin on the internet right now….”shitty” writing.
Stop paying too much attention to pixels, and not on words.
Words are the cheapest and easiest things to fix.
Rewrite first, redesign second.

Err on the side of simple
Start with the easy way!
Get 3 things done in one week, instead of one thing done in three weeks.
Moral, motivation one of the most important things!
The longer it takes to develop somethings the less likely you are to launch it.
Resist the urge to try to so more the next time around.

Invest in what doesn’t change
Google- speed and accuracy
Amazon- fast shipping

Follow the chefs
Lagasse, Batali, Flay, Bayliss, Oliver!
Share, share, share!
What’s your cookbook? Tell everyone you know.

Road maps send you in the wrong direction
They lock you into the past!
It’s ok to think about the future, just don’t write it down.
Author to be reading Ricardo Semier

Be clear in crisis
Be open, honest, public and responsive.
The web doesn’t shut up just because you have.

Make tiny decisions
Break problems down to the atomic level.
Celebrate little launches.
Morale feeds progress.
When you make tiny decisions you can’t make big mistakes.

Make it matter!
Everything you do should matter.
If it does not matter, don’t do it!

Hire Curious People!!!