David Piccione.com

Last Friday, Dharmesh Shah from On Startups wrote a piece that rather interestingly questions the sudden loss of buzz from the 37 Signals camp.

I found this particularity interesting for a couple of reasons. First, I flat out admire 37Signals, their products and philosophies and second, because I’ve noticed this effect as well.

If you aren’t familiar with the company, you’d do well to take a look at their site and get a feel for who they are and what they do if you want what I say here to make any sense. If you are, you know that they create simple, “opinionated” software and generally rail against established software development methodologies - to great success.

I really like their “Getting Real” mantra. I’ve tried to follow it in my own work and generally it helps the process of development. Thinking about what Dharmesh was saying, I wondered aloud at Hacker News if perhaps lack of buzz was simply due to the fact that the team is reaching its work threshold. With only so many people and so many hours, you can only do so much. 37Signals hasn’t added all that many new staff members, but if what they say is to be believed, - and I do - they’ve increased their business reach quite a bit. They’ve got both more products and more active users now than they did in 2006.

When Growth is the Enemy

For most businesses, growth is an appreciated challenge. But when you run your company on the mantra of being simple and using small teams, the pressure to grow takes on a whole new meaning. 37Signals runs the very real risk of turning into the one thing that they are trying to avoid - the large, lumbering company.

To complicate things further, anyone who understands developers knows that none of them want to do maintenance. It’s the next big thing and cool project that they what to be coding, not fixing an overflow error on software that’s 3 years old. Too much fixing and not enough creating sends good developers far, far away.

Finally, 37Signals are masters at marketing. They’re so good a creating demand for their software that they could probably launch another full book on the topic. This skill almost demands that they continue to launch products. It also means that they utilize the press coverage and buzz they receive directly - they translate it into sales more than others would. Losing the buzz they had in 2006 isn’t exactly something they can ignore completely, regardless of the health of their business.

Issues and Options - Growing Real

So what do you do when you have a growing client base, almost as many products as staff (they have 6 products to 8 employees) and a commitment to avoid becoming just another development shop?

It’s a good question, and not one that I’m sure I can properly answer. One of the most obvious things is that there are three options, two of which are not appealing at all, and one that would be as revolutionary as “Getting Real” was when it saw the light of day.

First, one could always decide to “become the corporation” and continue to grow, adding staff to accommodate. Unfortunately, this would mean abandoning their lean and mean strategies, at least to the point that they cease to be as groundbreaking as they are now. I doubt they will choose this option.

Second, they could refuse to grow any more and focus on the products they have, maintaining the philosophies that made them what they are. I can imagine that this is a very real option for them right now, or will be in the near future. I’d be disappointed if they chose this route, because I think it ultimately means they stop innovating. There’s only so much you can restrain the talent on that team, pretty soon they’ll find something else to do. Additionally, this would mean completely abandoning some great skill in marketing and product launch that these guys are really starting to harness. Although it’s an option, I’d like to think that this isn’t the direction Fried and company are planning to take the organization.

Evolution

The third option would see the team continue to release new products at the expense of existing ones. Although this is probably the trickiest route, I believe this is what we will begin to see from 37Signals in the near future.

There are a myriad of ways this can be accomplished, and here are three for example:

1. Discontinuation - They may decide that “6″ products is the most they can support in their desired state. This means that as a new product is released, another - under used/low profit/high maintenance - is discontinued. The trick becomes customer management - whom do you offend, how, and when? a variant of the theme would be to open source older products.
2. Product Sell-off - Perhaps another option would be to sell older products off to a company or companies that would be willing to continue offering the service. This is rather interesting in that 37Signals could then continue to innovate and possibly even finance new projects with the proceeds of the sale. The danger here again becomes the customer. If the “buyer” doesn’t offer the same level of service, then 37Signals itself may see push back from offended clients.
3. Acquisition - 37Signals have repeatedly stated that they aren’t interested in selling their company. But in a near future where they run the risk of growing into something they don’t want to be, this is always an option. Sell the farm, keep the team together and work on the next new thing using the principles they’ve become accustomed to.

Choices, Choices

I’m not under the illusion that this post is anything but conjecture. I don’t pretend to know intimate details of 37Signals or their current situation, but it seems clear that if they aren’t already battling with the paradox of being successful yet remaining small and nimble, they will be.

I’d be really interested to see how they would handle this challenge, or if they see it as being relevant at all. Clearly, lots of companies start out nimble and “real” and evolve into bureaucratic behemoths with success. Will 37Signals buck this trend, or will they be as revolutionary growing as they were at “becoming”?

Regardless of the outcome, I hope they continue to succeed building software that people pay money for to accomplish real tasks. They continue to be an inspiration to many of us, myself included.

Another week down.

As a side note: If you’re waiting, I haven’t forgotten about the second part of my commentary on goals, look for it this weekend or early next week. The article I was writing has morphed as I was moving through it, so I’ll publish it when it becomes worthy.

For now, check out what others are talking about:

Ben Casnocha has a great post reflecting on what his former teacher, Bill Bullard suggests we unlearn from school. I’ve been known to give teachers and schooling a good deal of flack, so it’s nice to see some great advice coming from what would appear to be a great teacher.

Since we’re on the topic of education, here’s a rather sad event about how 20+ years of pioneering work is for naught if you’re credentials aren’t quite right. Moral of the story: degrees are overrated, and if you expose that fact you’ll be dealt with.

Rob May at Businesspundit with some interesting comments on a new study that suggests smaller networks enhance innovation.

This is a brilliant little piece of software designed to help motivate you to get things done. What’s great about it is that it was inspired from a post on lifehacker about a principle from none other than Jerry Seinfeld. It simple and it works. Try it out.

Up until a few years ago, I thought people who consciously set goals were a little obsessed with living life according to some unseen code instead of enjoying that which was happening all around them every day. I suppose I could be forgiven for this. People often have an “either or” attitude to approaching things in life - it’s all or nothing like some sort of with us or against us dichotomy. I feel for these people.

My current outlook has me approaching life a little differently. I’ve come full circle in the realization that living for a purpose is as enjoyable - in fact more so - than living solely in the moment. Rather than being mutually exclusive, the two philosophies can work together. As such, setting goals has become an important part of my thinking. In today’s post, I’m going to write a little bit about why and how I set the goals I do. Tomorrow, I’ll speak to acting towards your goals by discovering a personal strategy.

What Are Goals?

When we refer to the word “goal”, what exactly do we mean? Often, a goal contains two things: a task or challenge that must be completed or overcome, and a date or deadline by which it will be accomplished. Without one, the goal is not effective; merely a hope or dream.

For many, these goals become hard targets - a point of measurement that defines success or failure. When linked to a specific time or date, they often reduce one’s choices in life to always attempting to achieve one goal or another. I find this approach to limiting, therefore I reject this definition and replace it with one that holds a goal to be a “milestone” of sorts - a point of evaluation, that until reached is strived for, once achieved celebrated, and when found wanting re-evaluated.

This approach holds the goal simply as a pathfinder - a stepping stone that translates hope into reality, vision into existence. When the desired end point changes - as life itself changes - the goals accommodate accordingly.

Looking at goals like this tends to adjust the way you approach life. My goals are larger and more encapsulating than others’. For example, it’s been a long time goal of mine to eventually become a pilot. Another to be financially independent, yet another to run my own business, and of course to raise my son (and his future siblings) to be successful - respectable - human beings.

For some, my goals may seem too feeble. For me, I keep them as direction points, guiding my decisions along the way. They’re open to being re-prioritized based on things that happen in my life. I don’t let my goals control me - I control them!

Why Set Goals At All?

Have you ever met a person that lived each day as if they were identical? Get up, Go to the same job, come home to the same house, watch TV, go to bed. Day in, day out. If you ask them where they see themselves in five, ten or fifteen years, they make a funny quip or change the subject. The truth is, they don’t know. They either haven’t thought about it, or are so thoroughly defeated by life that they understand desire only as something never attained.

These are the people who have no goals.

Having a goal doesn’t necessarily mean it will be accomplished. In fact, that isn’t really the primary benefit to setting goals. The reason is that a vast majority of us - myself certainly included - perform best when we have a purpose. That purpose is your goal, and the act of having a goal allows you to improve your life right now - today. Goals give you hope, allow you to have passion, aide in your decision making and let you take risks.

The Long Term Outlook

Keeping goals long term and of the big picture is keeping the end in mind. Your goals act as a compass: your own moral guide when confronted with choices in life. Because you know where you’d like to end up, you’re aware of how a particular choice you make will interfere (or not) with you achieving a particular goal.

Life is about living, but having an intended direction makes living enjoyable. Living without purpose, or living exclusively for one, can be debilitating. Setting loose, long term and big picture goals is a good way to find balance.

But once we know which way we want to go, how do we set about achieving anything? Clearly, a goal means that there is an expectation it will be achieved. Tomorrow, I’ll cover the concept of living strategically, and how you can use this to move your goals into the “done it” column.