Just finished reading the rather excellent Getting Real – The smarter, faster, easier way to
build a successful web application by 37 Signals
This has to be the best $19 I have ever spent. A truly excellent and calming read that reaffirms ones belief in all that is good. If you have ever felt that many processes in IT (and any other complex system for that matter) are bloated, over-complex, over-rationalised, self-defeatist, ya-da and ta-da, then this is the (e)Book for you.
From my own perspective simplicity is something that we should start from not strive to achieve. Why should things be so complex all the time, decide what goal the product needs to achieve and measure all details against that main goal. I accept the author’s declaration that for certain systems (e.g. banking) simplicity is not always possible. Overall this book calms my fears about complex systems and as much the way as in nature, we should look for the patterns inherent in the system as well as the fine details. Or more simply, don’t sweat the small stuff.
Some fresh air snippits:
Getting Real is about skipping all the stuff that
represents real (charts, graphs, boxes, arrows, schematics,
wireframes, etc.) and actually building the real thing.Getting real is less. Less mass, less software, less features,
less paperwork, less of everything that’s not essential (and
most of what you think is essential actually isn’t).Getting Real is staying small and being agile.
Get Getting Real