Search Results: Posts Tagged ‘37signals’

At last week's Social Media World Forum (#smwf), Andy McLoughlin, co-founder of Huddle, gave a stirring presentation about their business, why and how it came to be, and why collaborative, on-demand solutions are the future.

Here's the presentation in full (courtesy of my shiny new Flip camera - I love it!)

A bit like the new book Rework, by 37signals, that I reviewed recently, this was a must-see talk for small businesses, and a valuable lesson that often the most successful businesses are founded to 'scratch your own itch', or solve a problem that blights you personally in everyday life. In Huddle's case it was how to work in teams and collaborate remotely with co-workers, without the need for email.

Another experiment in how to work sans email is being conducted by Luis Suarez over at IBM. Luis is 2 years, yes 2 years, into his experiment and has successfully reduced his inflow of emails to an average of just 14 a week. If ever there was a supporting case for the adoption of social software, this surely must be one of the most compelling!

I don't normally do book reviews, but this one has just got me all wrapped up. See the strange this was that literally the moment I pondered  how interesting and inspiring a book about business by 37signals would be, they released one called Rework. I kid you not - it's like the book and me were meant to be!

As a quick intro for those of you who don't know 37 signals, they're on-demand web-based software legends who also just happen to be responsible for the programming framework Ruby on Rails. I refer to them as legends quite simply because they have an attitude and approach that sees them take on large global software businesses and win. They believe in simple, smart solutions that anyone can pick up and run with, and they don't try and do everything all at once, they just do most things, and do them well.

And so to the book. It's not a coffee table book or a heavy-weight management consultancy book - it's somewhere inbetween. I think of it as my lunchtime book, which is when I pick it up to inspire my daily business thinking. See we're a small business, and a relatively young one at that, hence you'll begin to see why I'm so switched on by it. The book guides you through the pitfalls of setting up a business by offering advice like 'Ignore the real world', 'Planning is guessing' and my favourite, 'Why grow'. It has a light-hearted approach, but delivers a lot of punch and practicality if you're running a business, thinking about running a business, or simply a budding freelancer.

I particularly enjoyed their banter about business 'start-ups' and exit-strategies, and how as business owners we shouldn't be thinking in these terms from day one, if at all.

What 37signals have also done well over the years with their Highrise, Basecamp and other solutions has been to generate interest with little or no-budget. How? By delivering a great product that people want, and that inspires them to spread the word. They've taken this approach to the book too, and are battling it out with Karl Rove's book here to become a number 1 bestseller. I say support the cause, get a copy and get reading - you're professional outlook (and business) won't be the same again!