37signals' co-founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson discuss their unique approach of operating without full-time managers. They reflect on the company's experience with full-time managers and share why they've moved to a flatter organization.

Key Takeaways:

• 00:54 - The before and after of 37signals' experience with full-time managers
• 08:34 - The founders thoughts on being directly involved in the business
• 10:36 - Why the company's management hierarchy works best for the founders
• 17:17 - 37signals' career ladder doesn't necessarily mean people leadership
• 20:03 - What company size makes sense for having more management layers

Links and Resources:

• HEY World post – We once more have no full-time managers at 37signals
• Books by 37signals
• Sign up for a 30-day free trial at Basecamp.com
• HEY World | HEY
• The REWORK podcast
• The Rework Podcast on YouTube
• The 37signals Dev Blog
• 37signals on YouTube
• @37signals on X

This week, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, co-founders of 37signals, examine why it's advantageous to keep things simple — in both products and business. They challenge the idea that complex or bespoke tools are the best way to go and lean into not overcomplicating things.

Key Takeaways:

• 00:34 - The power of keeping things simple
• 10:55 - Why small businesses don't need to act like big businesses
• 12:04 - The beauty of embracing what you don’t know when starting something new
• 18:01 - Building products with depth versus surface area
• 23:09 - Knowing when to listen to customers for product input and ideas

Links and Resources:

Merchants of Complexity Post by David Heinemeier Hansson

Books by 37signals

Sign up for a 30-day free trial at Basecamp.com

HEY World | HEY

The REWORK podcast

The Rework Podcast on YouTube

The 37signals Dev Blog

37signals on YouTube

@37signals on X

37signals works in 6-week cycles, which begin with a Kickoff and wrap up with a Heartbeat. In this week’s REWORK podcast, co-founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson break down the purpose and benefits of the Kickoff and Heartbeat documents and share tips for implementing this process across an organization.

Key Takeaways

• 00:40 - When 37signals started using Kickoffs and Heartbeats
• 02:13 - Details of the Kickoff write-up process
• 07:34 - How much input Jason and David have in the Kickoff
• 13:43 - What Kickoffs & Heartbeats look like for departments with ongoing work
• 17:37 - The Heartbeats as an opportunity to highlight and celebrate the work of individual employees and team
• 22:50 - The benefits of writing up work summaries for institutional history

Links and Resources

Shape Up

Books by 37signals

Sign up for a 30-day free trial at Basecamp.com

HEY World | HEY

The REWORK podcast

The Rework Podcast on YouTube

The 37signals Dev Blog

37signals on YouTube

@37signals on X

This week on the REWORK podcast, 37signals co-founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson answer another round listener questions. Jason and David talk about the ups and downs of their long-running business partnership and friendship, tackle a critical question about Basecamp, and share their thoughts on starting a new company. Plus, they reveal the inspiration behind their Campfire software.

Key Takeaways

00:34 – How Jason and David's partnership has stood the test of time

09:21 – A listener's opinion on Basecamp's shortcomings

14:56 – Advice for building a new company from the ground up.

25:35 – Creating products out of a need versus seeing a business opportunity

Links and Resources

Is group chat making you sweat?

Books by 37signals

Sign up for a 30-day free trial at Basecamp.com

HEY World | HEY

The REWORK podcast

The Rework Podcast on YouTube

The 37signals Dev Blog

37signals on YouTube

@37signals on X

In this episode, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, co-founders of 37signals, return from a summer hiatus to answer a new set of listener questions. They dive into topics like the role of A.I. in writing and their updated thoughts on staying Facebook-free. REWORK host, Kimberly Rhodes also gets in a question of her own.

Key Takeaways

00:38 - Emphasizing the importance of using your own voice in writing rather than relying on AI

05:50 - Discussing how targeted advertising can be beneficial for some but not for everyone

08:50 - One disagreement with a company or person shouldn't lead to complete condemnation

19:28 - David shares his reflections on taking a summer break from X (formerly Twitter)

Links & Resources

Google pulls Dear Sydney ad

Google - Dear Sydney Ad

ONCE.com

Jobs at 37signals

Books by 37signals

HEY World

The REWORK Podcast

The 37signals Dev Blog

37signals on YouTube

37signals on X

In their book REWORK, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson write about the benefits of building products and services that you use yourself. "The easiest, most straightforward way to create a great product or service is to make something you want to use." In this episode, originally aired November 2, 2021, Jason and David sit down with Shaun Hildner to discuss creating products that scratch your own itch.

Key Takeaways

• 00:43 – The origins of Basecamp and how it fulfilled an internal need
• 04:38 – Building to solve your own problems vs. someone else's
• 06:27 – The evolution of HEY and how it was created to solve their own frustrations with email
• 09:50 – How building for yourself leads to better quality control
• 14:25 – The problem with creating MVPs (Minimum Viable Products) and building based on customer feedback alone

Links and Resources

• Books by 37signals
• Sign up for a 30-day free trial at Basecamp.com
• HEY World | HEY
• Once | Campfire
• The REWORK podcast
• The 37signals Dev Blog
• 37signals on YouTube
• @37signals on X

In this episode of the Rework podcast, host Kimberly Rhodes chats with Eron Nicholson from 37signals' operations team. He shares insight on his role and the department's various functions. The conversation covers details on the ops team structure, system reliability, global expansion projects and more.

Key Takeaways

• 00:38 - Meet Eron
• 02:17 - The structure of the “ops” team
• 05:15 - On-call coverage and schedule
• 08:40 - Managing data center outages
• 13:25 - Balancing project cycles with system administration
• 16:56 - A sneak peek into the Amsterdam project

Links & Resources

• 37signals developers blog
• Optimizing Site Performance via Anycast Routing
• Jobs at 37signals
• ONCE.com
• Books by 37signals
• HEY World
• The REWORK Podcast
• The REWORK Podcast on YouTube
• The 37signals Dev Blog
• 37signals on YouTube
• 37signals on X

Sign up for a 30-day free trial at Basecamp.com

In this episode, Andrea LaRowe, Head of People Operations at 37signals, joins host Kimberly Rhodes to answer questions about the company's HR practices. They discuss the company's management structure and performance evaluations and what the company looks for when hiring. Andrea also shares what's involved in the All Hands meeting and tips for planning a company meet-up.

Key Takeaways:

• 00:42 - Meet Andrea
• 02:19 - 37signals' managerial structure and one-on-one process
• 06:15 - 360 evaluations and annual employee reviews
• 09:38 - What job applicants can do to stand out
• 12:45 - All-hands meetings
• 17:21 - Company meetups
• 21:57 - Hiring employees using the ‘manager of one’ concept

Links and Resources:

Jobs at 37signals

Books by 37signals

Sign up for a 30-day free trial at Basecamp.com

Once software products

HEY World | HEY

The REWORK podcast

The Rework Podcast on YouTube

The 37signals Dev Blog

37signals on YouTube

@37signals on X