Give it five minutes
A few years ago I used to be a hothead. Whenever anyone said anything, I’d think of a way to disagree. I’d push back hard if something didn’t fit my world-view. It’s like I had to be first with an opinion – as if being first meant something. But what it really meant…
Why 37signals Doesn't Hire Programmers Based on Brainteasers
I remember the first time I interviewed for a front-end programming position and got asked how to do something in JavaScript on a white board. The specifics are vague, but it’s crystal clear how stupid it made me feel and how little it had to do with the actual job. Since then I’ve r…
The Most Revealing Job Interview Question
Not all SaaS referral programs are built the same. Learn how B2B SaaS, consumer SaaS, and partner programs each need a different approach, plus examples.
Some advice from Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos stopped by our office yesterday and spent about 90 minutes with us talking product strategy. Before he left, he spent about 45 minutes taking general Q&A from everyone at the office. During one of his answers, he shared an enlightened observation about people who are “right …
Dear Open Source Project Leader: Quit Being A Jerk
I do my best to support the people that use my open source projects. I don’t always do things right, I don’t always respond in a timely manner. Sometimes I just have to walk away from an issue or request and let it die from lack of attention. But I do my best, and I take the time to provide meaningful answers whenever…
Bootstrap Maintainers Leave Twitter
Working at Twitter the last two and a half years has been incredible. Both Jacob and I have worked with a lot of amazing people on some pretty amazing…
Are You a Zen Coder or Distraction-Junkie?
Better ListView by Component Owl is a .NET WinForms control designed to replace the standard list view control included with C#/VB.net.
New Reddit CEO reporting for duty
Get the latest product news, company announcements, and user insights from the official Reddit blog.
Small teams are dramatically more efficient than large teams
Small software teams are dramatically more cost efficient than large teams. Large teams don't even confer much calendar time advantage over small teams.
Tell, don't ask
And now, a friendly message from your local Tell, don’t ask Department. ...
The Bozo Event Horizon
I’m on a Harvard mailing list for some folks interested in startups and innovation. A recent thread of discussion was around hiring, and in a posting to the group I talked about making sure that you did your hiring so that you avoided the bozo effect. I was asked by a number of people what I meant by that, which led…
Why I'm done with Scrum
My first foray into Agile was with a product team back in 2004-2005. It was my first “real” job out of college, and my first experience with a death march. During the death march, I was struck on how bad the idea of death marching was. Working weekends, long hours etc. were a sign of failure not on the development…
Why Publishing on the Windows Phone is Like Walking Barefoot On Broken Glass
We started developing Toshl for Windows Phone because we liked the platform and saw the potential in it. It's a beautifully designed OS, even if the experience starts to wear a bit thin after a few weeks and a giant leap for Microsoft. Publishing apps for it though, has turned out to be a very…
One Bad “Policy Change” Email Can Kill Company Culture
We've all received a work email that made us cringe - the ones that sound formal and threatening or vaguely like a punishment for something we're pretty
Follow the goal creep
When I started racing cars, I thought it would be great if I could just settle in mid-pack in a respectable gentleman’s cup series. After all, racing to me was all about getting access to long stretches of flow, that sensation of being so completely engrossed in an activity that you lose trac…