As complexity and confusion grows, simple tools become more and more valuable. And while sometimes it’s easy to think we need this that and the other to solve a problem, it’s often the simplest solution that actually gets the job done. Not everything has to be a Swiss Army Knife. Sometimes a screwdriver just needs to be a screwdriver.
From “37Signals featred in Wired (March 2008)“.
As ever, read the comments too.
Like this exchange:
Writeboards are broken. Unlike all the other components in Basecamp, Writeboards do not trigger alerts when created, when changed, or when someone comments below.
Using the word “broken†to mean “I’d like to have†is such an unfortunate commonality in a lot of feature requests these days. Why the drama? What about just saying “I’d really like if Writeboards could send email notifications†(Writeboard already notifies people via the dashboard, project log, and RSS feeds). It would make the conversation a lot less antagonistic and probably more encouraging to work on.
I agree, people use ‘broken’ too much. It’s common geek speak now and should be stopped.