Starting Over

http://www.inc.com/magazine/201202/jason-fried/starting-over-get-real.html

by sathishmanohar • 15 years ago

60 21 15 years ago

jdludlow• 15 years ago

This article says absolutely nothing. OK, there's a new Basecamp coming. Some people are going to complain when they see it, some people are going to love it. Can we see some details? Maybe a screen shot.

A green field "version 2" isn't exactly breaking new ground either.

Serious question. Is there a "next page" link on this article that I'm just not seeing?

outside1234• 15 years ago

totally agree. usually Jason writes great stuff. this is just an ad.

cwe• 15 years ago

This is his column for Inc, not an unveiling of the product. Look at the title, he's talking about redoing a product from the ground up, and using his experience as a parable for businesses everywhere to ponder. It's not called "Introducing Basecamp 2.0"

ry0ohki2• 15 years ago

Rewriting software to start fresh always SOUNDS like a great plan, especially to engineers, but this usually ends up bad for the end user and takes 5 times as long as planned (Netscape anyone?).

Basecamp could definitely use a refresh, but as a daily user I do worry something will be lost if it's completely redone.

jasonfried2• 15 years ago

1. Rewrites are a bad idea if you're rewriting what already exists today. We're writing something new. It's not a rewrite of today's Basecamp.

2. Nothing changes with the Basecamp you already know and love. The new Basecamp is an entirely different product. You can use whichever you prefer, no one is being forced to change or switch.

dnissley• 15 years ago

> The new Basecamp is an entirely different product.

Good on you. This is how it should be done.

ry0ohki2• 15 years ago

Thanks for the reply Jason, a new and interesting twist from 37signals as usual :). This seems awkward from a branding point of view, like new users can sign up for Basecamp or New Basecamp? Or old users can use old Basecamp but new users can't signup, or it really is completely different and maybe I'll be using old Basecamp and new Basecamp?

zavulon• 15 years ago

So is your new product going to do the same thing as old Basecamp? Are you targeting the same audience? Don't you think that's cannibalizing your own user base and helping your competitors?

Unless you're building the whole new product that serves a different purpose, and is only influenced by Basecamp - in that case, it makes sense.

rhizome• 15 years ago

Are you kidding? They're going to get years of posts and articles about how they dealt with "Second System Effect." This rewrite will be a boon to their business side, even if people are complaining on the utility side.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-system_effect

karterk• 15 years ago

It will be interesting to see how they go about this. Even ignoring the whole thing about user inertia, I have only heard horror stories on how completely re-writing an app from scratch has caused all kinds of unforeseen problems.

djbender• 15 years ago

This: Second System Effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month#The_seco...

pors• 15 years ago

And this: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html

michaelleland• 15 years ago

I imagine we'll hear about it. It's nice to get an inside look at the challenges of another company.

crcsmnky• 15 years ago

Eventually, it will be interesting to see what functionality people have gotten used to in the current version of Basecamp that doesn't make it over to the next version and how those changes get implemented.

People don't always use tools the way they were intended to be used. Because of that, there are non-obvious features/functionality that may not have even been on the drawing board for the next version. Will 37signals go back and re-implement those subtle pieces or will they put a stake in the ground and say "this is the new way forward".

It could end up becoming an interesting study on how to bridge the gap with two systems when the next version is a complete rewrite.

drumdance• 15 years ago

Maybe this will be their version of New Coke /jk

mrgreenfur• 15 years ago

This is marketing as content, zzzz.

JoeAltmaier• 15 years ago

It'll be bigger, slower, buggier and more expensive (all rewrites are). A hard sell.

yangtheman• 15 years ago

The easy thing to do is nothing. But continuing on the current path is a time-tested formula for complacency.

I wish I heard that from the new RIM CEO.

Starting Over

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