I made notes as I stormed my way through the
Getting Real book freely available online -
1. Fix time and budget. Cut back on the scope if needed. Cutting back on the scope has the added bonus of keeping you focussed on the most important bits of your application.
2. Pick a worthy adversary and then undercut them. Do not fight on their "home turf". Change the rules of the game. Force them to fight you on your own terms. Having an existing competitors makes your promoters understand the market and the business model more easily. BUT do not overanalyse the competition! Don't follow, lead.
3. Be passionate. It shouldn't be a chore. The app should excite you! Be your best salesman!
4. Be thrifty. Be lean. Embrace agility, change, and openness. The heavier you are the harder it is to adapt when a paradigm shift comes along.
5. Look for creative emergent solutions. Keep it simple. Let it happen.
6. For version 1.0 three's company. A developer, designer and sweeper (someone who can roam both worlds). That's the developer staff. One more guy for logistics. Basss.
7. Stay close to your customers. Be truthful. Be yourself. i.e. don't be evil.
8. One point app. What's the big deal? The cutting insight, the vision? If you need more than a sentence, it's not as great as you think it is.
Examples -
Campfire - group chat over IM sucks.
Basecamp - Project management is communication.
FedEx - Being on time is worth money.
PS: A good side mantra for a future app - Err in favour of the users. Users get the benefit of the doubt.
9. Ignore details for version 1.0
10. Wing it. Ignore problems. Spend more time on short term problems than long term problems.
11. Focus on a small core market segment. Know your customers. Don't try to please everyone. Core group will spread word around faster as well.
12. Don't scale while you still don't need to.
13. Be opiniated. Write software KNOWING what's best for your customers. Have a vision.
14. Half not half assed. Build little but well.
15. Focus on the nuclear plant, not the color of the bike shed.
16. Just say no to feature creep. Listen but don't act until it realy keeps on coming back and then you really need to. Tough Love.
17. Every time you say yes to a feature, you are adopting a child. Be prepared to take good care of it and expend time, money and energy in doing so. Understand the true costs of every new feature.
18. Replace feature requests with conventions. Users will really not mind that much.
19. Ask people what they DON'T want instead of what they want. People really want everything that they don't have.
20. Get something running as soon as possible and get feedback. Real things get real reactions.
21. Work in iterations. Be prepared to throw previous work away. Mockups -> HTML -> Version 1.0. Rinse repeat.
22. Avoid user preferences screens. Make the call on behalf of your users.
23. Decisions are temporary. Don't be afraid to take a call FAST. This isn't brain surgery. Lives aren't at stake. Be prepared to revise your opinion later in face of more clarity. Be prepared to throw previous work away. Execute, build momentum and move on.
24. Ideas a worthless. Execution is gold.
Awful idea = -1
Weak idea = 1
So-so idea = 5
Good idea = 10
Great idea = 15
Brilliant idea = 20
No execution = $1
Weak execution = $1000
So-so execution = $10,000
Good execution = $100,000
Great execution = $1,000,000
Brilliant execution = $10,000,000
To make a business, you need to multiply the two.
25. Test in the wild.
26. Smaller tasks. Smaller timelines.
27. Solve the one problem staring you in the face. Take on a big problem one thing at a time.
28. Hire all rounders, not specialists. Keep them communicating. Outsource to specialists.
29. Keep work timing flexible but get UNINTERRUPTED stretches whenever you get them. Allocate time for fun, don't think about work when having fun. Don't kill yourself.
30. Meetings are toxic. Don't have them. 30 mins max. Lesser people the better. Have a clear singular agenda.
31. Celebrate small victories.
32. Hire temps before permanents. Kick the tires before hiring anyone.
33. Go for open source enthusiasts.
34. Go for quick learners.
35. Go for happy over frustrated. Enthusiastic question askers over silent & stoic.
36. Go for good writers and clear thinkers.
37. Interface before code.
38. Design the "blank" state before the "real" state of the app.
39. Don't ignore the "error" state.
40. Context over consistency.
41. Think about your interface messages. Make them user friendly.
42. Keep admin and regular interfaces combined.
43. Keep code simple.
44. Use tools that keep programmers happy. RoR and Ruby.
45. Choose the easy way instead of the right way. If a feature works slightly differently than what you expected, no problems.
46. Set aside time and money for code mainentance.
47. Keep data flowing. Mashups, RSS feeds, widgets. Let users run wild.
48. Eliminate unnecessary formal documents.
49. Write stories not detail. Strategy not tactics.
50. Use real text instead of Lorem Ipsum.
51. Give your product a personality. Polite? Stern? Forgiving? Strict? Funny? Deadpan? Serious? Loose? Do you want to come off as paranoid or trust-
ing? As a know-it-all? Or modest and likable?
52. Give away freebies. Give away your hit single.
53. Signup and cancellation should be painless. No lock in.
54. fEarn customers money. Don't employ "tricks" like signup fees/long term contracts
55. Give plenty of advance notice for bad news.
56. Hollywood Launch. Teaser -> Preview -> Launch. Reward early adopters.
57. Build an ace community based promotional site. Overview, tour, videos/screenshots, manifesto, case studies, buzz, forum, blog, faq, pricing, signup.
58. Share information / experiences with the community. Good Karma. Pay it forward. Create evangelists.
59. Be an early adopter of "cool" features / technologies. Take advantage of your agility. Generate the buzz. Ride the hype wave. Target the special interest groups.
60. Track your buzz. Pay attention to feedback.
61. Upsell within the app.
62. Pick an easy memorable name. Don't sweat it if you don't get the exact domain name. e.g. backpackit.com or campfirenow.com
63. Development team === Support team. Break down the barriers. Feel the pain. Cut out the middle man.
64. The product should require ZERO training.
65. Quick responses to support questions.
66. Use forums to let users help each other.
67. Be open. Deliver all news, god or bad. Publicise your screwups.
68. Issue a major upgrade 30 days after launch.
69. Keep the heartbeat going. Blog. Newsletters. Buzz. Treat your customer like a friend.
70. No betas. Straight to version 1.0. Betas mean nothing thanks to Google.
71. Prioritise your bugs. Ignore the small ones.
72. Don't panic after a bad decision. It's probably not as bad as you think. Ride out the storm.
73. Keep in touch with your competition.
74. No bloat. No kitchen sink. Mature doesn't mean complicated.
75. Be a surfer. Watch the ocean. Keep looking out for that new big wave on the horizon. Be the first to ride it.
76. Finally. Execution and People! Two things that can make or break. Rest is all gravy.
into this -
