brad garland

I should preface everything I’m about to write with I really think the 37signals guys are really opening peoples eyes to the new ways to do business. With that said, I don’t fully buy into it.

I think Jason Fried and DHH definitely do a good job creating a buzz for their company with their ‘less is more’ attitudes but they speak as if their principles applies to all industries when it doesn’t or in some cases, can’t. If they are specifically referring to the small niche of the web design/development industry then ok, i get it but, if they think all businesses apply to this mindset, then I call bullshit.

I see rants from their blog about no need for policies, generalists are what everyone should strive towards, etc.

On Policies: Policies are created to standardize controls, something I would’ve thought they would have been for, for people that are spread out throughout the country. It’s hard to follow their ‘Gettin’ Real’ philosophy when working in retail, government, or banking (just to name a few) business with multiple locations throughout the country. Employees have to know be able to know what is required of their job and what isn’t.

On Generalists: To me, becoming a generalist seems like a great way to not ever really being truly good at anything. If someone like Eric Meyer (CSS guru) tried to fully understanding design, Rails, C++, etc. he wouldn’t be as good as he is with CSS. I believe, you can be mediocre at many things or if you focus, can be an expert in 1 or 2 things.

Sometimes I think 37signals takes things a bit too far and need to tap the brakes a bit and come back to reality. Course, if they do it just to get a rise out of people and to market that way, more power to them. It got me talking about them, didn’t it?

[tags]37signals, Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson, Signal vs. Noise, Eric Meyer, CSS, Getting Real[/tags]