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Getting Real: The Smarter, Faster, Easier Way to Build a Successful Web Application Paperback – 2006

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

59 customer reviews

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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.

Getting Real: The Smarter, Faster, Easier Way to Build a Successful Web Application

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Product details

Paperback: 194 pages
Publisher: 37signals (2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0578012812
ISBN-13: 978-0578012810
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.4 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #410,542 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #611 in Books > Computers & Technology > Web Development & Design > Web Design
- #972 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Software Design, Testing & Engineering > Software Development
- #1027 in Books > Computers & Technology > Networking & Cloud Computing > Internet, Groupware, & Telecommunications

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Top Customer Reviews

It's like the free version— only you get pay for it. Yay!

ByAmazon Customeron December 13, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Thought that the paid version would have more than the free PDF version here: https://gettingreal.37signals.com/

... but it does not.

Half of this book is just 'feel good' quotes from other authors. Then the rest of the book contains the standard platitudes you hear OVER AND OVER again in the startup world.

"Start small"
"Be yourself" and...
"Don't build more than you have to"

If you end up buying this book— just remember that Amazon only gives you 7 days to return ebooks. I thought the return period was longer, and now I'm stuck with it...

0Comment 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Solid, inspirational information if you're building software

BySimon Erichon May 7, 2010

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

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.

0Comment 9 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Good for the whole team

ByPaul G.VINE VOICEon July 9, 2011

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

As a big fan of the book Rework and as a member of a team that develops web applications, this book seemed like just the thing for my team members and managers to read. I was not disappointed.

The principles in Getting Real match what I've learned over years of successful software development. I've shared my copy with team members and it was very well received. One of my coworkers is the sort that has to plan everything out in advance - so much so that he often becomes paralyzed because he can't determine the ideal way to accomplish what he wants. After reading Getting Real, he said he needs to work on adopting more of the practices in the book so he can become more productive. Another coworker, who teaches programming at a local university and at a local college on the side, recommended this book to a fellow teacher to be used as a textbook.

Not everything in this book will apply to every situation. Our team works for the government as contractors; we are required to produce a lot of documentation to fulfill our contractual obligations. Outside of our paper deliverables, though, this book is spot on with software development. Getting Real isn't full of theories - it's full of techniques that work. I know this from my experience...the book was a great help in giving that knowledge to my coworkers as well.

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Short, opinionated, insightful

ByThomas Silvaon June 18, 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This is not a tech book – well, not exactly. It's closer to a management book, a book on how to make your web company perform, in a "Lean Startup" way. For that, it's a great book. 37signals is very inspiring, and I followed loads of companies that follow some of the ideas here. Not that I agree 100% with all that's said, that's not the point – the point is that it gets you thinking about stuff, on why you do things the way you do and if you should do it any different. Just that is worth the 2 days that you'll spend reading it.

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Dangerous!

Bychrison October 17, 2012

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I enjoyed this book. The sections of the book did a great job defining current working methods and proposing better alternatives. I labeled my review 'Dangerous' because most of the proposed methods in the book will be difficult to implement in a corporate environment. Trying to use these methods in a large company may cause frustration. If you are in a small web shop or starting off on a new business idea then this is a great book to encourage your confidence in being small and agile. There are many ways in which a small company has advantages and this book outlines how to capitalize on being small. Great job, 37signals!

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Five Stars

ByAmazon Customeron August 21, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Great book for start ups

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Good, but Rework is Better

ByKevin Rohrbaughon March 26, 2010

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Getting Real is 37signal's first, self-published book. It challenges a lot of what is often thought of as the status quo for building a company. If you're a fan of 37signals, you'll no doubt enjoy this book.

As of March, 2010, however, they published Rework, which is very similar in nature to Getting Real, but updated and made more widely applicable (less references to web applications, etc). Much of the content in Getting Real is repeated and refined in Rework.

Due to the duplication of content, I recommend only reading Rework at this point.

0Comment 22 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

They forgot to mention 'cheaper'

ByAntonon May 24, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I loved this book...simple, insightful, funny, straight forward, and an easy read. It's such a dramatic shift from the usual stories we tell ourselves on why we can't start, or how we need a whole bunch of other things to happen before we get from point A to B.

Anyone who enjoyed Steven Pressfield's war of art will enjoy this book. And the principles in this book apply to any business not just tech startups

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?YesNo

Most Recent Customer Reviews

Re-work is better.

Not impressed. But Re-work is 5*Read more

Published 1 month ago by Nikita

Five Stars

Enlightening and practical in various fields, not only code Read more

Published 7 months ago by Gil Gavriel

Four Stars

Practically philosophical advice for startups of all kinds. Read it from cover to cover.Read more

Published 1 year ago by Piixel Pusher

Real reading

One of the most useful readings I've read last time. Simple but powerful approach that gives you understanding of one general idea: you have not have to do stuff perfect, you just...Read more

Published 1 year ago by Mikhail

No fluff in this book, solid 'how-to'

I found this book very on point and useful when thinking about creating any kind of software or web interface Read more

Published 1 year ago by Greg Silas

great quick read to refresh your mind on being simple!

I loved reading this as we are starting many tech projects in the company. It was a good refresher of what is important Read more

Published on May 11, 2015 by Anik K. Singal

Great book. I read this book last (although it ...

Great book. I read this book last (although it was their first of 3), after reading their two other books.Read more

Published on March 28, 2015 by josephmisiti

Good read if you're in the Web Application business

I recommend it very much if you're planning to create your own web application. It has the same style that other 37Signals books have (Rework, Remote, etc.Read more

Published on December 26, 2014 by Acuariano

The world will be better if more large, old, tech companies read and applied

Thoroughly enjoyed this book and I think just about every page had valuable information on it. Information was very easy to consume and for me, not a very technical person, I...Read more

Published on December 20, 2014 by @insurancebillvj

Great when it came out, but now it's dated

And it feels a lot more like a collection of articles and quotes than it should. It is a good read though.Read more

Published on November 7, 2014 by Armin

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