Comments on: “Build half a product, not a half-assed product” - tips on clarity and focus from Jason Fried of 37Signals http://www.pathf.com/blogs/2008/09/build-half-a-product-not-a-half-assed-product-tips-on-clarity-and-focus-from-jason-fried-of-37signals/ Running commentary about agile development, user experience design and Ajax. Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:20:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: John McCaffrey http://www.pathf.com/blogs/2008/09/build-half-a-product-not-a-half-assed-product-tips-on-clarity-and-focus-from-jason-fried-of-37signals/#comment-3482 John McCaffrey Thu, 02 Oct 2008 16:25:48 +0000 http://www.pathf.com/blogs/?p=1160#comment-3482 I agree that software is a different animal. I think there could be a whole post on "the top 10 worst things that people try to compare software development to", but honestly I think those comparisons will always happen. In a way its kind of hard-wired into how people learn about and understand new concepts. What comparisons do you make when explaining the dev process to someone? What effective techniques have you found for handling the balance of "its like planning a building, in that you need to know certain things in advance, but its not so rigid...so its like being able to call a new play while you are on the field..." I agree that software is a different animal. I think there could be a whole post on “the top 10 worst things that people try to compare software development to”, but honestly I think those comparisons will always happen. In a way its kind of hard-wired into how people learn about and understand new concepts.
What comparisons do you make when explaining the dev process to someone? What effective techniques have you found for handling the balance of “its like planning a building, in that you need to know certain things in advance, but its not so rigid…so its like being able to call a new play while you are on the field…”

]]> By: Ranjan http://www.pathf.com/blogs/2008/09/build-half-a-product-not-a-half-assed-product-tips-on-clarity-and-focus-from-jason-fried-of-37signals/#comment-3460 Ranjan Tue, 30 Sep 2008 08:13:21 +0000 http://www.pathf.com/blogs/?p=1160#comment-3460 I don't link people comparing software to "Cars", "Hammers", "Nails", "Tools", because software is fundamentally a different entity. Applications should have features which should be on demand, but services should be focused on doing single thing. Doing less may be good for all the sites that have cropped up, that are task specific or cater to users single need, but not for application which demand functionality and features on one page. I don’t link people comparing software to “Cars”, “Hammers”, “Nails”, “Tools”, because software is fundamentally a different entity. Applications should have features which should be on demand, but services should be focused on doing single thing.

Doing less may be good for all the sites that have cropped up, that are task specific or cater to users single need, but not for application which demand functionality and features on one page.

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