Comments on: FAW #15: Paul Graham of Viaweb http://www.grid7.com/archives/120_faw-15-paul-graham-of-viaweb.html Build something. BIGGER. Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:32:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0 by: James http://www.grid7.com/archives/120_faw-15-paul-graham-of-viaweb.html#comment-6444 Fri, 01 Jun 2007 23:49:25 +0000 http://www.grid7.com/archives/120_faw-15-paul-graham-of-viaweb.html#comment-6444 "They found that by having staggered development schedules and limiting communication to brief windows (like the Viaweb guys) they were able to get much more done. […]" Yet, in the end, Hanson moved to Chicago. I think there's a halo effect around various conditions, especially hardships or obstacles; if things work out well, there's a presumption that certain stand-out features (time difference, sleep difference, whatever is easily noticed) is part of the reason. Perhaps those things really *did* contribute, but I notice that while people talk of the value of this or that constraint, they rarely either a) maintain them once they are able to avoid them or b) seek them out on purpose. “They found that by having staggered development schedules and limiting communication to brief windows (like the Viaweb guys) they were able to get much more done. […]”

Yet, in the end, Hanson moved to Chicago.

I think there’s a halo effect around various conditions, especially hardships or obstacles; if things work out well, there’s a presumption that certain stand-out features (time difference, sleep difference, whatever is easily noticed) is part of the reason.

Perhaps those things really *did* contribute, but I notice that while people talk of the value of this or that constraint, they rarely either a) maintain them once they are able to avoid them or b) seek them out on purpose.

]]> by: Grid7 - Build something. BIGGER. - FAW #23: David Heinemeier Hansson of 37 Signals http://www.grid7.com/archives/120_faw-15-paul-graham-of-viaweb.html#comment-5917 Wed, 23 May 2007 21:04:20 +0000 http://www.grid7.com/archives/120_faw-15-paul-graham-of-viaweb.html#comment-5917 [...] The concept of “alone time” was something they devoted an entire chapter to in their Getting Real book. It surfaced again in Hansson’s interview. He began working for 37s while he was still living in Copenhagen, Denmark so he had a 7-hr offset in time difference which meant there was only a small window during business hours with which he could communicate with the rest of the team. This actually proved to be a blessing in disguise as it imposed yet another constraint (communication time) that forced them to become hyper-productive with the time they had. They found that by having staggered development schedules and limiting communication to brief windows (like the Viaweb guys) they were able to get much more done. [...] […] The concept of “alone time” was something they devoted an entire chapter to in their Getting Real book. It surfaced again in Hansson’s interview. He began working for 37s while he was still living in Copenhagen, Denmark so he had a 7-hr offset in time difference which meant there was only a small window during business hours with which he could communicate with the rest of the team. This actually proved to be a blessing in disguise as it imposed yet another constraint (communication time) that forced them to become hyper-productive with the time they had. They found that by having staggered development schedules and limiting communication to brief windows (like the Viaweb guys) they were able to get much more done. […]

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