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Getting Real: The smarter, faster, easier way to build a successful web application Paperback – January 1, 2006

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 267 ratings
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Getting Real details the business, design, programming, and marketing principles of 37signals. The book is packed with keep-it-simple insights, contrarian points of view, and unconventional approaches to software design. This is not a technical book or a design tutorial, it's a book of ideas. Anyone working on a web app — including entrepreneurs, designers, programmers, executives, or marketers — will find value and inspiration in this book. 37signals used the Getting Real process to launch five successful web-based applications (Basecamp, Campfire, Backpack, Writeboard, Ta-da List), and Ruby on Rails, an open-source web application framework, in just two years with no outside funding, no debt, and only 7 people (distributed across 7 time zones). Over 500,000 people around the world use these applications to get things done. Now you can find out how they did it and how you can do it too. It's not as hard as you think if you Get Real.
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  1. Reading age
    1 year and up
  2. Print length
    194 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Dimensions
    5.98 x 0.49 x 9.02 inches
  5. Publication date
    January 1, 2006
  6. ISBN-10
    0578012812
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0578012810
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Paeceioni (January 1, 2006)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 194 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0578012812
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0578012810
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 1 year and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.3 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.98 x 0.49 x 9.02 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 267 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Jason Fried

    Jason Fried

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Jason Fried is the co-founder and President of 37signals, a privately-held Chicago-based company committed to building the best web-based tools possible with the least number of features necessary.

    37signals' products include Basecamp, Highrise, Backpack, Campfire, Ta-da List, and Writeboard. 37signals also developed and open-sourced the Ruby on Rails programming framework. 37signals' products do less than the competition -- intentionally.

    37signals weblog, Signal vs. Noise, is read by over 100,000 people every day.

    Jason believes there's real value and beauty in the basics. Elegance, respect for people's desire to simply get stuff done, and honest ease of use are the hallmarks of 37signals products.

    See more on the author's page
  2. David Heinemeier Hansson

    David Heinemeier Hansson

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    David Heinemeier Hansson is the cofounder of Basecamp and NYT bestselling coauthor of REWORK and REMOTE. He's also the creator of the software toolkit Ruby on Rails, which has been used to launch and power Twitter, Shopify, GitHub, Airbnb, Square, and over a million other web applications. Originally from Denmark, he moved to Chicago in 2005, and now lives between the US and Spain with his wife and two sons. In his spare time, he enjoys 200-mph race cars in international competition, taking cliche pictures of sunsets and kids, and ranting far too much on Twitter.

    See more on the author's page
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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
267 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Anton
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding.
Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2024
Verified Purchase
Absolutely JAM-PACKED with useful, practical insights. The "value per page" ratio of this book is off-the-charts. It's written using very simple, concise language that just distills a ton of great ideas down to their essence. Zero filler, zero BS -- there's basically not a single page in this book that feels like "that was boring / a waste of my time." You'll legitimately get good, solid, usable, practical ideas from basically every page of this book. Additionally, while the focus is for a software business, many of the ideas / points made can be mapped onto many other business models and even many other areas of life. Absolutely worth reading + re-reading in the future.
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abhishek shandilya
4.0 out of 5 stars Similar theme as his newer books
Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2023
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I read this book after reading ReWork and Remote, so I found the same topics being repeated.
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Paul G.
5.0 out of 5 stars Good for the whole team
Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2011
Verified Purchase
As a big fan of the book  Rework  and as a member of a team that develops web applications, this book seemed like just the thing for my team members and managers to read. I was not disappointed.

The principles in Getting Real match what I've learned over years of successful software development. I've shared my copy with team members and it was very well received. One of my coworkers is the sort that has to plan everything out in advance - so much so that he often becomes paralyzed because he can't determine the ideal way to accomplish what he wants. After reading Getting Real, he said he needs to work on adopting more of the practices in the book so he can become more productive. Another coworker, who teaches programming at a local university and at a local college on the side, recommended this book to a fellow teacher to be used as a textbook.

Not everything in this book will apply to every situation. Our team works for the government as contractors; we are required to produce a lot of documentation to fulfill our contractual obligations. Outside of our paper deliverables, though, this book is spot on with software development. Getting Real isn't full of theories - it's full of techniques that work. I know this from my experience...the book was a great help in giving that knowledge to my coworkers as well.
2 people found this helpful
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John A. Cashman
3.0 out of 5 stars A lot of repeated content
Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2012
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The book is decent for giving common sense advice on how to not let too many distractions effect your business. However, there is way too much content from their other book to justify this book as being separate.
One person found this helpful
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Randall Degges
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Advice for Anyone With a Passion for Their Work
Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2010
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I recently purchased both this book and Rework (a slightly newer version of this book) from Amazon.

Both books contain invaluable information about business and development that is critical for anyone who loves excelling at their work, running their own business, or thinking of starting their own business.

The book is broken up into short chapters, each only a few pages in length, that contain practical advice regarding the chapter topic.

Bits of information like:

- Be honest and open with your customers.
- Infuse your personality into your software.
- Build only the most essential features for your product.

Are prevalent throughout the book, and presented in an entertaining and insightful way that really makes you question the way you work, the way your business works, and ways to do your work better.

I can't recommend that you read both this AND Rework, as the material in both books is very similar, but you should definitely read one of them as they will change your perspective, and help you become better at your job.

This book is getting 5 stars because it offers amazing information, and has changed the way I look at development.

The best way I can describe the way I felt while reading this book is: it felt like I was reading the Hacker's Manifesto for the first time.

If you're wondering whether or not you should get this book or Rework, the answer is yes. Get it. Now.

Amazing stuff.
35 people found this helpful
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Chris
5.0 out of 5 stars Priceless, Actionable advice
Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2018
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Everything about this book is great.

The book itself is simple, easy to read and broken up into bite-sized chunks.

I can really appreciate this because many authors go on and on talking about topics that aren't relevant and telling long-winded stories.

Jason Fried and DHH put their egos aside when they wrote this book. They share what has worked for them and why.

Building a software app used to seem daunting to me now, and no doubt, it's hard and complex. But, by making improvement daily over a long period of time, you can really build something special.

This is not only about building software but also a common sense approach to building a business. I would give this 6 stars if I could.
4 people found this helpful
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Joseph Born
4.0 out of 5 stars Adjusting Methods to Changes in Technology
Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2010
Verified Purchase
This book is a great read. First of all, its very efficient, sub 200 pages and a very sparse 200 pages, you can read it in a couple hours. There are a host of conventions about product development processes that are just outdated for today's tools and this book does a great job in articulating how we should be changing our processes and why. It just sounds right to prepare a spec up front to have a clear step by step process, but the reality is thats just not sensible in today's world. The more chaotic, iterative method will get you to the finish line while the spec writers are still debating section 1.2. Today's tools just make it possible (and necessary) to get in front of customers quickly, whether comfortable or not. There's just not much excuse for not investing a couple hours in this book if you are writing web apps or the like. Even if you already do things this way, you will surely encounter objections and this book will arm you with an articulate, credible voice to counter those objections.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Marcelo Victor de Carvalho
5.0 out of 5 stars Direto ao ponto, um soco na cara do perfeccionismo.
Reviewed in Brazil on September 2, 2022
Verified Purchase
Gostei da primeira à última palavra. Um livro que todo empreendedor que quer criar um web app ou startup deveria comer de garfo e faca.
One person found this helpful
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Benjamin Parry
5.0 out of 5 stars Work is about creating things that people will use
Reviewed in Canada on February 20, 2021
Verified Purchase
Getting Real is the first book put out by the founders of Basecamp (then called 37 signals). In it you can see all the distinctive qualities of their writing. The language is forceful, the type is large, each idea is given its own loving, brief treatment. The story is simple: Work is about creating things that people will use. To do this you need to have the right people working together in the right way. That’s it. However, presented without any fluff, this can be a counterintuitive thing. To give a flavour of how this manifests here are two chapter headings with their summary:

*Fix Time & Budget, Flex Scope*: time and budget seem infinite until they are not, while what you create is definitively finite. If you don’t shift on time and budget it will force you to do the best you can with what you have.

*Hire Less & Hire Later*: Every hire without certainty of fit offers more risk than opportunity. Too many hires too quick harms culture. If you have a problem see if you can ignore it before hiring for it. When you do hire take as long as you need.

The distinctive aspect of Getting Real compared to other Basecamp books is that it has specific ideas to offer for building a web app not just running a business. If you want to learn how to run an effective business and gain a bag of tricks for app development, this is a good place to start.
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geileszeuch
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it
Reviewed in Germany on March 17, 2022
Verified Purchase
I loved the tips and insights for building a web app in this book. I now think this is a must-read for someone building a SaaS.
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Fatmonky
1.0 out of 5 stars Print quality low - pixelated text
Reviewed in Singapore on September 25, 2021
Verified Purchase
The content is good, but the print quality of the text is low: the type is pixelated (see picture: unfortunately my phone cam isn't the best).
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Fatmonky
1.0 out of 5 stars Print quality low - pixelated text
Reviewed in Singapore on September 25, 2021
The content is good, but the print quality of the text is low: the type is pixelated (see picture: unfortunately my phone cam isn't the best).
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Stathis G.
5.0 out of 5 stars It influenced the way I work.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 7, 2014
Verified Purchase
When I read it several years ago, it definitely influenced the way I work.

By the way, you can get the PDF version of it for free, by joining the *37signals's mailing list. Just Google "37signals getting real" or something similar, and you'll find the book's landing page.

*although they now call themselves "Basecamp", the book's landing page still calls them 37signals
3 people found this helpful
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