Make Opinionated Software | Getting Real Heads up! This page uses features your browser doesn't support. Try a modern browser like Firefox or Chrome for the best experience. Getting Real Chapter 20: Make Opinionated Software Next: Half, Not Half-Assed Your app should take sides Some people argue software should be agnostic. They say it’s arrogant for developers to limit features or ignore feature requests. They say software should always be as flexible as possible. We think that’s bullshit. The best software has a vision. The best software takes sides. When someone uses software, they’re not just looking for features, they’re looking for an approach. They’re looking for a vision. Decide what your vision is and run with it. And remember, if they don’t like your vision there are plenty of other visions out there for people. Don’t go chasing people you’ll never make happy. A great example is the original wiki design. Ward Cunningham and friends deliberately stripped the wiki of many features that were considered integral to document collaboration in the past. Instead of attributing each change of the document to a certain person, they removed much of the visual representation of ownership. They made the content ego-less and time-less. They decided it wasn’t important who wrote the content or when it was written. And that has made all the difference. This decision fostered a shared sense of community and was a key ingredient in the success of Wikipedia. Our apps have followed a similar path. They don’t try to be all things to all people. They have an attitude. They seek out customers who are actually partners. They speak to people who share our vision. You’re either on the bus or off the bus. Half, Not Half-Assed → We made Basecamp using the principles in this book. It combines all the tools teams need to get work done in a single, streamlined package. With Basecamp, everyone knows what to do, where things stand, and where to find things they need. Copyright ©1999-2021 Basecamp. All rights reserved. Back to Basecamp.com Getting Real The smarter, faster, easier way to build a successful web application by Basecamp Introduction Chapter 1 What is Getting Real Chapter 2 About Basecamp Chapter 3 Caveats, disclaimers, and other preemptive strikes The Starting Line Chapter 4 Build Less Chapter 5 What's Your Problem? Chapter 6 Fund Yourself Chapter 7 Fix Time and Budget, Flex Scope Chapter 8 Have an Enemy Chapter 9 It Shouldn't be a Chore Stay Lean Chapter 10 Less Mass Chapter 11 Lower Your Cost of Change Chapter 12 The Three Musketeers Chapter 13 Embrace Constraints Chapter 14 Be Yourself Priorities Chapter 15 What’s the Big Idea? Chapter 16 Ignore Details Early On Chapter 17 It’s a Problem When It’s a Problem Chapter 18 Hire the Right Customers Chapter 19 Scale Later Chapter 20 Make Opinionated Software Feature Selection Chapter 21 Half, Not Half-Assed Chapter 22 It Just Doesn’t Matter Chapter 23 Start With No Chapter 24 Hidden Costs Chapter 25 Can You Handle It? Chapter 26 Human Solutions Chapter 27 Forget Feature Requests Chapter 28 Hold the Mayo Process Chapter 29 Race to Running Software Chapter 30 Rinse and Repeat Chapter 31 From Idea to Implementation Chapter 32 Avoid Preferences Chapter 33 “Done!” Chapter 34 Test in the Wild Chapter 35 Shrink Your Time The Organization Chapter 36 Unity Chapter 37 Alone Time Chapter 38 Meetings Are Toxic Chapter 39 Seek and Celebrate Small Victories Staffing Chapter 40 Hire Less and Hire Later Chapter 41 Kick the Tires Chapter 42 Actions, Not Words Chapter 43 Get Well Rounded Individuals Chapter 44 You Can’t Fake Enthusiasm Chapter 45 Wordsmiths Interface Design Chapter 46 Interface First Chapter 47 Epicenter Design Chapter 48 Three State Solution Chapter 49 The Blank Slate Chapter 50 Get Defensive Chapter 51 Context Over Consistency Chapter 52 Copywriting is Interface Design Chapter 53 One Interface Code Chapter 54 Less Software Chapter 55 Optimize for Happiness Chapter 56 Code Speaks Chapter 57 Manage Debt Chapter 58 Open Doors Words Chapter 59 There’s Nothing Functional about a Functional Spec Chapter 60 Don’t Do Dead Documents Chapter 61 Tell Me a Quick Story Chapter 62 Use Real Words Chapter 63 Personify Your Product Pricing and Signup Chapter 64 Free Samples Chapter 65 Easy On, Easy Off Chapter 66 Silly Rabbit, Tricks are for Kids Chapter 67 A Softer bullet Promotion Chapter 68 Hollywood Launch Chapter 69 A Powerful Promo Site Chapter 70 Ride the Blog Wave Chapter 71 Solicit Early Chapter 72 Promote Through Education Chapter 73 Feature Food Chapter 74 Track Your Logs Chapter 75 Inline Upsell Chapter 76 Name Hook Support Chapter 77 Feel The Pain Chapter 78 Zero Training Chapter 79 Answer Quick Chapter 80 Tough Love Chapter 81 In Fine Forum Chapter 82 Publicize Your Screwups Post-Launch Chapter 83 One Month Tuneup Chapter 84 Keep the Posts Coming Chapter 85 Better, Not Beta Chapter 86 All Bugs Are Not Created Equal Chapter 87 Ride Out the Storm Chapter 88 Keep Up With the Joneses Chapter 89 Beware the Bloat Monster Chapter 90 Go With The Flow Conclusion Chapter 91 Start Your Engines