Make it happen! You hear it a lot. And it's generally good advice, of course. At least the 'happen' part. You definitely want things to happen. But often times, it's the 'make' part that gets confused for progress. You can push a ball uphill, but should you? Not only does it take a ton of effort, you can't really see what's over the ed...

Problems are often described by their size. "Hey, that's a big problem". Or "Eh, that's just a little issue, no big deal." And if you do hear someone say “serious” you immediately think huge. It’s still about size. I sometimes still use those descriptors, but I'm trying to use them less. Instead, I’m reframing problems as High or Low. ...

A few weeks ago I was at our company meetup in Montreal, on stage in a big room in front of everyone, sharing progress on two brand new products in development. We went one at a time. First Product 1 for a half hour, then Product 2. The lead designers for each product were driving, and I was talking. The products projected on a big scr...

I finally picked up a Teenage Engineering TP-7. I've been experimenting with dictating random ideas lately. And while the phone is typically more convenient, I wanted to have a separate recorder on my desk. The TP-7 is an absolutely charming piece of hardware. Reminds me of all the things I loved about some of those high precision port...

On X, Dinesh Kherajani asked: “"How should you handle a customer who has outgrown your B2B SaaS product? The customer has been using it for years, but has scaled up and no longer fits your ICP. This is one of your largest customer." (https://x.com/DineshKherajani/status/1843539478864114113)” My answer: People outgrow all sorts of thing...

The problem with software estimates is that they're both entirely right and entirely wrong. Yes there's a 3 week version of something. And a 6 week version. And a 4 month version. And a 12 month version. That's correct. Yet, you'll almost always be wrong whichever you pick. Because estimates aren't walls — they're windows. Too easy to ...

No I don't have an assistant. No I don't have anyone (or AI) reading or answering my emails or posts on my behalf. Yes, my email address is very public. Yes I get as many emails as you do, probably more. Yes I have time to get back to people who write me. Not instantly, but eventually within reason. A big part of my job is being access...

When making products, you can think of them as a collection of features or answers. Some people may say "you mean features or benefits?" No, I mean answers. Answers are counterpoints to questions people have in their heads. Answers fill holes, answers snap into sockets. Benefits don't have such places in people's minds. For example, yo...

Companies are akin to complex languages, each with its own unique dialect and cultural nuances. And I think this explains why it’s so hard for executives — especially executives — to come in from outside an organization and find their way. At lower levels within an organization, you don’t need to be as proficient a speaker of “the lang...

It took me a while to fully realize the value of something my company achieved years ago, and continues to savor today. It’s one of our greatest quiet advantages, full stop. It’s not something you hear much about in business circles. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I heard anyone spend much time on the topic, or even bring it u...

In the course of building products, you’ll make a thousand common decisions, but only a handful of directional decisions. While a common decision may alter a specific feature, design, or implementation, a directional decision remaps the fundamental trajectory of the entire product. Make a directional decision and you’re now pointed thi...

You know, it's really easy to publish short form content on a variety of social platforms. And individual blog posts on a number of other platforms. These are solved problems. But it's surprisingly challenging to publish books on the web in nice, cohesive, tight, easy-to-navigate HTML format. A collection of 20 essays can be a book. Or...

Failure is a word worth eliminating from your vocabulary. There’s no reason to think about things that didn’t work out as failures. Yet, it’s especially pervasive in entrepreneurial circles. It’s almost as if failure has been fetishized. Nearly worshipped as a right of passage, a prerequisite, a required step on the way. I’m not here t...

One of my favorite things about designing software is designing the defaults. The defaults define the experience for everyone out of the box. And, therefore, for most people in perpetuity. Convention over configuration rules the day. To me, everything it could possibly do is less interesting than what it does right now, factory fresh. ...

Just listened to Lex Fridman and Sara Walker talk about the origins of life, the search for life, what is life, etc. It was a wonderfully refreshing, nourishing conversation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwhTfyX9J34 It made me want to spill out some random thoughts on the subject. I’m unqualified, but I’m curious. Our search for lif...

I recently took up drumming. Again. One of the first things you realize, other than you suck, is that you’re gripping the sticks too hard. A tight grip denies certain degrees of freedom, limits subtlety, and ups the fatigue factor. Plus you give up the gift of bounce the drum heads happily offer. It’s like you’re constantly paying inte...

In my experience, a key skill to develop is the ability to separate one thing from another. To prevent the small from becoming the all. Take a policy, for example. Could be a government, or a school, or a home owner’s association, or something at work. Whatever it is, you don’t like it. You don’t agree, you don’t like the decision make...

I’ve been doing this for 25 years, so I’ll often be asked why I’m still in it and how I stay motivated. It ain’t the money, as I’ve been fortunate enough to make more than I’ll ever be able to spend. I enjoy the work and we have a great crew, each a true pleasure to work with. I remain filled with ideas. So that’s part of it. But it’s ...

Osmo Wiio was a Finnish researcher of human communication. His laws of communication are the human communications equivalent of Murphy’s Laws. Wiio's laws state... • If communication can fail, it will. • If a message can be understood in different ways, it will be understood in just that way which does the most harm. • There is always ...

Some of the most rewarding features to add to products are ones that don’t increase surface area, but increase depth. This is how you continue to make a product a whole lot better without it feeling like it got a whole lot bigger. Basecamp’s new References feature is a great example of this. Video + write-up: https://updates.37signals....

I can fake enough. I can fake a lot. But I’ve noticed there’s one thing in particular I can’t fake: Motivation. And in the end, at least for me, it all comes down to motivation. I may have the talent, I may know the tricks, I may be able to go through the motions. But if I deeply don’t want to do it, it won’t be good. Simple as that. I...

One of the reasons we work in six week cycles, is that it gives us a different definition of later. When you work on really long projects — say 3, 6, 9 month projects — or projects that don’t have any end in sight, “we can do that later” typically means you’ll get to it eventually, as part of the current project. Long time frames give ...

Strangely, a recent bathroom renovation crystalized my perspective on product development. When being asked to choose between towel hooks or a towel bar, the choice was obvious: Hooks, of course. Hooks take up no space. Towel bars suck up space. Hooks hold towels no matter how you place them. Towel bars require towels to be balanced le...

Imagine teaching guitar without putting an instrument in someone’s hands. Or teaching ceramics without having people work with clay. Or teaching tennis without swinging the racket and hitting balls. I’m sure there’s some way to teach those things without doing those things, but come on, we all know you have to do those things to really...

Have you ever been asked "What do you wish you knew then that you know now?" I have. And I hate the question. It's usually framed in a way that encourages you to pretend to place yourself in the nascent days of your career, or early adulthood. Back when you didn't know much, when you were trying to figure things out. Essentially it's a...

As you build your business, you'll end up delegating plenty. Much of what you did before is now better done by someone else. To make more progress, you release your grip and allow. But there’s one thing you should hold tight and never let go. It’s the thing that should never be delegated. It’s your voice. Speak for yourself. Don’t let ...

Now you have the data. Thousands of responses from a survey with dozens of questions. You worked hard to come up with questions that painted the picture you felt you needed to make the decision with the data you gathered. And now you've got it. Comprehensively. Quantitatively. You're data driven, and now you have the stuff that drives ...

One of my greatest pleasures at work is trying to find that point where everything feels just right. Nothing more, nothing less, but right there in the pocket. It's almost fractal. It's there in every component, in every feature, in every flow, in every sequence, in every product, in every decision, inside everything across the company...

20 years ago today I wrote a blog post that changed my life. I'd never really launched a product before, so posting to our blog was only way I knew how to do it. And social media hadn't even been invented yet, so where else was I supposed to put it? In fact, guess what else happened to launch the same day as Basecamp? Facebook. So we'r...

Enough feedback comes quick. Invite 100, get 10, 5 probably tell you all you need to know. Or at least 80% of it, which is all you need to know. Another 10, 20, 50+ will end up telling you mostly the same as those core five. And you'll find yourself repeating yourself — explaining the same thing you already explained, just to new peopl...