Getting Real: The smarter, faster, easier way to build a successful web application [Paperback]

Jason Fried (Author), Heinemeier David Hansson (Author), Matthew Linderman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 18, 2009

Getting Real details the business, design, programming, and marketing principles of 37signals. The book is packed with keep-it-simple insights, contrarian points of view, and unconventional approaches to software design. This is not a technical book or a design tutorial, it's a book of ideas. Anyone working on a web app - including entrepreneurs, designers, programmers, executives, or marketers - will find value and inspiration in this book. 37signals used the Getting Real process to launch five successful web-based applications (Basecamp, Campfire, Backpack, Writeboard, Ta-da List), and Ruby on Rails, an open-source web application framework, in just two years with no outside funding, no debt, and only 7 people (distributed across 7 time zones). Over 500,000 people around the world use these applications to get things done. Now you can find out how they did it and how you can do it too. It's not as hard as you think if you Get Real.

Product Details

• Paperback: 194 pages
• Publisher: 37signals (November 18, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0578012812
• ISBN-13: 978-0578012810
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #80,490 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jason Fried is the co-founder and President of 37signals, a privately-held Chicago-based company committed to building the best web-based tools possible with the least number of features necessary.

37signals' products include Basecamp, Highrise, Backpack, Campfire, Ta-da List, and Writeboard. 37signals also developed and open-sourced the Ruby on Rails programming framework. 37signals' products do less than the competition -- intentionally.

37signals weblog, Signal vs. Noise, is read by over 100,000 people every day.

Jason believes there's real value and beauty in the basics. Elegance, respect for people's desire to simply get stuff done, and honest ease of use are the hallmarks of 37signals products.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Advice for Anyone With a Passion for Their Work, March 14, 2010

By 

Randall Degges (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Getting Real: The smarter, faster, easier way to build a successful web application (Paperback)

I recently purchased both this book and Rework (a slightly newer version of this book) from Amazon.

Both books contain invaluable information about business and development that is critical for anyone who loves excelling at their work, running their own business, or thinking of starting their own business.

The book is broken up into short chapters, each only a few pages in length, that contain practical advice regarding the chapter topic.

Bits of information like:

- Be honest and open with your customers.
- Infuse your personality into your software.
- Build only the most essential features for your product.

Are prevalent throughout the book, and presented in an entertaining and insightful way that really makes you question the way you work, the way your business works, and ways to do your work better.

I can't recommend that you read both this AND Rework, as the material in both books is very similar, but you should definitely read one of them as they will change your perspective, and help you become better at your job.

This book is getting 5 stars because it offers amazing information, and has changed the way I look at development.

The best way I can describe the way I felt while reading this book is: it felt like I was reading the Hacker's Manifesto for the first time.

If you're wondering whether or not you should get this book or Rework, the answer is yes. Get it. Now.

Amazing stuff.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must Read for Product Management and Marketing Professionals, February 10, 2010

By 

Steve Keifer (Northern Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Getting Real: The smarter, faster, easier way to build a successful web application (Paperback)

Getting Real is a must read for all marketing professionals - especially those in product management! The impact Agile Development is having on product management is as revolutionary as the changes that social media are having on marketing communications. In my opinion, an alternative title for Getting Real could have been "The New Rules of Software Development," because the strategy outlined is such a radical paradigm shift. The book takes about 2-3 hours from cover-to-cover. I read the free online HTML version first, but now have purchased several copies of the hardcover for myself and colleagues.

The essence of the 37 Signals design principles can be summed up nicely in a quotation by Steve Jobs' who stated about iTunes - "We don't want a thousand features. That would be ugly. Innovation is not about saying yes to everything. It's about saying NO to all but the most crucial features."

The book is chalked full of sage advice about how to optimize productivity in the software design and development process. Examples include avoid meetings; don't write functional specs; public betas are b*****t; and use real words in design prototypes instead of the typical lorem ipsum garbage. My favorite essay was how to conduct a Hollywood Style launch of a new web application by previewing and teasing users with social media.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid, inspirational information if you're building software, May 7, 2010

By 

Simon Erich (Austin, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Getting Real: The smarter, faster, easier way to build a successful web application (Paperback)

I really enjoyed reading 'Getting Real' because I felt like it allowed me to let go of preconceptions about what software should and shouldn't be. Overall, I felt like the information was extremely practical and in many ways enlightening, though at times I did feel like the authors staunch resistance to outside influence was a little extreme. If you're in the process of building web-based software, I would recommend this book highly (and have) over their more recent title 'ReWork'. Both books are cut from the same cloth, but ReWork is definitely more general in it's approach and made into a picture book. Both contain almost the exact same information, it's just that 'Getting Real' seemed to have more gems worth highlighting and sharing with my team. The only reason I didn't rate this book 5 stars, though it probably deserves it, is the fairly extreme outlook of choosing no features over features and remaining closed off from outside (user) influence. But what do I know, I'm not the one making millions running my web based super-simple project management software. Get this book.