Getting Real: Free Book by 37signals

This is a great book. All of the advice in t is either excellent or at least thought-provoking. Highly recommended.

Now, that being said, I did order a dead tree version through the Lulu.com store (very nice store, by the way) and while I love the construction and print quality of the book, the internal page layout and typography were awful. And the choice of a glossy black cover shows annoying fingerprints after just a few minutes.

I'm glad that I've read this book because it has given me motivation to start something. I'm trying out a couple of ideas right now to see which one I like and will run with.

So, thanks to the guys at 37Signals, but have someone who knows what they're doing, help you with layout next time!

The best part of this book in my opinion is the section where they describe every step they have to take when implementing a new feature. It clarifies the advice they give about saying 'no' to new requests initially (because even a seemingly-tiny feature can involve a lot of work to make sure it launches successfully, you have to focus on the most important, most requested features).

You can see that principle at work on this site. Over time they'll know what the most important features to add are based on how we use it.

I really enjoyed this book too, you can feel the passion they have coming through in the writing and its contagious.

> Getting Real is staying small and being agile.

I couldn't agree with this more. Businesses that give up control, gain in mobility what they lose in command. And mobility is the key to innovation in any startup.

Worth the read. Don't confuse 'simplicity' with lack of features. Read Simplicity[0] by Joel for an explanation why.

[0] http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/12/09.html

Control + minus a dozen times makes reading the online version so much easier/faster.

I owe my perseverance to this book and the team at 37Signals.com !!!

Insightful ~