text: Build half a product, not a half-assed product.

source: Getting Real

provenance: model-memory

context: Chapter maxim; full book free online — easy verify.


text: Meetings are toxic.

context: Chapter title; expanded in Rework.


text: It's a problem when it's a problem.

context: On not solving imagined future problems (scaling before you must).


text: Small is not just a stepping-stone. Small is a great destination in itself.

context: The staying-small doctrine's origin statement.


text: Planning is guessing.

source: Rework (with DHH)

context: Chapter title; co-authored book — 'we wrote', not 'I wrote'.


text: Workaholics aren't heroes. They don't save the day, they just use it up. The real hero is already home because she figured out a faster way to get things done.

context: From the 'Workaholism' chapter.


text: Ideas are immortal. They last forever. What doesn't last forever is inspiration. Inspiration is like fresh fruit or milk: It has an expiration date. If you want to do something, you've got to do it now.

context: Closing chapter, 'Inspiration is perishable.'


text: What you do is what matters, not what you think or say or plan.


text: Constraints are advantages in disguise.

context: 'Embrace constraints' chapter.


text: You need less than you think.

context: Chapter title.


text: Start a business, not a startup.

context: Chapter title; a 'startup' defers profitability, a business charges.


text: Building to flip is building to flop.

context: Chapter title.


text: Outside money is Plan Z.

context: Chapter title; the anti-VC doctrine in four words.


text: The easiest, most straightforward way to create a great product or service is to make something you want to use.

context: 'Scratch your own itch' chapter.


text: Instead of trying to outspend, outsell, or outsponsor competitors, try to out-teach them.

context: 'Out-teach your competition' — cites chefs with cookbooks as the model.


text: The core of your business should be built around things that won't change.

context: For Basecamp: speed, simplicity, ease of use — wanted in 2004, wanted forever.


text: Sell your by-products.

context: Chapter title; Rails and the books are the canonical cases.


text: When good enough gets the job done, go for it.

context: 'Good enough is fine' chapter — judo solutions.


text: Momentum fuels motivation.

context: The argument for small, frequent wins.


text: Long projects zap morale.

context: Same chapter as q019; the case for short cycles.


text: Interruption is the enemy of productivity.

context: 'Alone time' chapter.


text: The worst interruptions of all are meetings.

context: Meetings chapter; follows the per-attendee cost math.


text: You don't create a culture. Culture happens. It's the by-product of consistent behavior.


text: Hire when it hurts.

context: Chapter title.


text: Pass on hiring people you don't need, even if you think that person's a great catch.

context: 'Pass on great people' chapter.


text: When you treat people like children, you get children's work.

context: 'They're not thirteen' chapter.


text: Marketing is not a department. It's something everyone in your company is doing 24/7/365.

context: Every email, every error message, every invoice is marketing.


text: Press releases are spam.

context: Chapter title.


text: Instead of throwing more at a problem, throw less.

context: 'Throw less at the problem' — cut scope, not quality.


text: Decisions are temporary.

context: Decide and move on; you can change your mind later.


text: ASAP is poison.

context: Chapter title; manufactured urgency devalues real urgency.


text: Do less than your competitors to beat them.

context: 'Underdo your competition' chapter.


text: If you're a copycat, you can never keep up. You're always in a passive position. You never lead; you always follow.

context: 'Don't copy' chapter; wording needs exact-form check.


text: Ignore the details early on.

context: Chapter title; get the epicenter right first.


text: The office during the day has become the last place people want to be when they really want to get work done.

source: TEDx talk, 'Why work doesn't happen at work'

context: The TED talk that preceded Remote; date approximate (TEDxMidwest, Oct 2010).


text: You don't have a workday anymore. You have work moments.

context: The sleep analogy passage; phrasing from memory of the talk.


text: If you can't let your employees work from home out of fear they'll slack off without your supervision, you're a babysitter, not a manager.

source: Remote: Office Not Required (with DHH)


text: The modern workplace is sick.

source: It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work (with DHH)

context: Opening diagnosis of the book.


text: Your company is a product.

context: The company itself is the thing you iterate on; its users are the people who work there.


text: 8 hours a day, 5 days a week is plenty.

context: Wording needs exact-form check; the 40-hours-is-enough doctrine.


text: Calm is contagious.

context: Needs exact-form check — may be paraphrase of the book's framing.


text: Fixed time, variable scope.

source: 37signals working principle (Shape Up era)

context: The Shape Up mantra; the book is Ryan Singer's, the principle is house doctrine Fried states constantly.


text: We don't do goals. We've literally never had one at the company.

source: Recurring statement across interviews (e.g., The Tim Ferriss Show)

context: Phrasing varies across tellings; the position is constant. Needs a citable instance.


text: A backlog is a big weight we don't need to carry.

source: Signal v. Noise / Shape Up discussions

context: The no-backlog doctrine; exact phrasing needs verification (Shape Up ch. 'Bets, Not Backlogs' is Singer's text).


text: Companies don't have communication problems, they have miscommunication problems.

source: Signal v. Noise / HEY World essay

context: Needs exact-form check; from his writing-over-meetings essays.


text: If you want to see what someone believes, watch what they do repeatedly.

source: Attributed, interviews

context: Low confidence on exact wording — possibly a paraphrase of the culture-as-consistent-behavior idea. Verify or drop.


text: Sleep is a competitive advantage.

source: Attributed, interviews/essays

context: Low confidence on exact wording; the position (anti-sleep-deprivation-as-badge-of-honor) is certain, from 'Sleep deprivation is not a badge of honor' (Signal v. Noise / book material).


text: Sleep deprivation is not a badge of honor.

source: Signal v. Noise essay / It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work material

context: Essay title/claim; stronger provenance candidate than q047.


text: The best companies aren't families. They're supporters of families.

context: 'We're not family' chapter; wording needs exact-form check.


text: Become a curator of your own attention.

context: Low confidence on exact wording; his attention-protection theme is certain. Verify or drop.