My new favorite book… Getting Real

It’s time for Mr. Canfield to step down as my favorite book (The Success Principles). He has held the title crown for a couple years now, so it is time.

Getting Real by 37 Signals is a simple read, which is the point, as the book’s subtitle is:  The smarter, faster, easier way to build a successful web application. While this book does all that, it does more too. The smarter, simple, faster, easier way they approach web work has many lessons that can be placed in to your world. It’s also such a quick read, I’ll probably read and reread this one a few times.

It’s funny how things are applicable at different times in your life. I typically don’t pick up web books, but this is one of Clay’s top reads, so I wanted to read his top read. He’s a super sharp dude, so why wouldn’t I want to know what he knows? More than that, though, the book was great for me to read because it helps us work smarter as a team, and, I know a lot more about where he is coming from when we approach a web project. Just this week, a client wanted to have a few websites for their business. This could have been a very OK thing for that company, however, my main point, of course from the thoughts of this book, were that making three sites only lead to additional sites to MANAGE. Most clients don’t want to add to their work load on purpose, nor leave open an opportunity to cause error by forgetting to change information in one place but not in the other two. It was timely, and spot on advice for this situation.

There are many other lessons I’m sure I’ll share in future situations, but for now, take my advice and read this book. It’s more than simple advice for web work. It’s great advice for business.