I have begun reading “Get Real” and I am currently half way through. I have found it an interesting read thus far. It has given me some good advice I wish I had before I begun developing my fantasy football website at the turn of the year. I will surely refer back to it in the future befir and during other projects.
Here are a few notes on it so far:
GET REAL: The smarter, faster, easier way to build a successful web app.
- Focus on what the customers are going t osee & use, keeping it simple.
- Must be passionate about a project for it to succeed. The less a chore an app is to build the better it will be.
- Solve your own problems
- Use cash only on neccessaties
- Constraints drive innovation. They also force you to get your idea out into the wild sooner rather than later.
- Keep sign up as short as possible. Ask only what you need.
- If a customer wants to use an app it should be a painless process. BIG SIGN UP SIGN on every page.
- Demo of app without paying
- Whenyou cancel an account you should be able to take your data with you (ie export as XML). Should be able to do with it what you want. Giving control of data creates trust.
- Prioritize: only include what is important for the next release.
- Flexible: dont leave everything fixed, allow room for change.
- Have an enemy–>An app that you will be completely different from (google vs microsoft project)
- Stay lean so changes are easy and cheap.
- Talented people do not need endless resources: they thrive on a challenge (keep as small a team as possible)
- Educationa can be used as a promotional technique
