Photograph by Erika DuFour

In 2006, after just three years spent creating and selling a suite of Web tools ... 37signals released its minimalist manifesto, Getting Real: The Smarter, Faster, Easier Way to Build a Successful Web Application. Distilled from content on the company blog—the freewheeling Signal vs. Noise ... it’s a declaration of war ... against bloated software with “too many features, too many buttons, too much to learn.” The self-published e-book’s message is essentially, Keep it simple, stupid ... “Underdo your competition,” “Embrace constraints,” “Publicize your screwups.” (Rework, a follow-up focused more on business and management, is due out from Crown Publishing in March.)

via chicago.timeout.com

His SXSW presentation a few years ago alerted me to the important insights he brings.

My current favorite koan of his is "fire the work-a-holic". I see in the work place several examples of obsessive workers ruining the atmosphere for everyone, sending the company down extraneous, destructive paths. Of course, in typical miss-management, they are the workers held up an example for others to emulate.