Comments on: No, 37signals, Planning Is NOT What You Think

By: Tim Berry

Tim Berry — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:05:05 +0000

Thanks for asking Marty, but I don’t think I know enough to make a useful comparison between 37 signals, the company, vs. E-myth, the book. As you can tell from the post above I’m not real big on what a member of the 37 signals team says about planning in that one place; but I don’t think that reflects the company’s strategy or its management process or its success. I admire that company a lot, it’s really paved the way for web applications. It’s a good role model.

E-Myth is a very thoughtful book but I know it only through summaries and the respect that some people I respect have for it. I’ve tried to read it a couple of times, but I wasn’t able to keep my interest up.

By: Marty Thomas

Marty Thomas — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:56:17 +0000

Hi Tim.. I’m interested in your thoughts.. Does 37signals or E-myth have the right philosophy for online business today? http://www.purlem.com/blog/?p=38

By: Evan

Evan — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:47:40 +0000

Great post. I read and usually like the Signal To Noise blog but it definitely seems like the ratio trends low when it comes to their planning articles.

By: Tim Berry

Tim Berry — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:32:38 +0000

@August thanks, I just made those changes. Tim.

By: Tim Berry

Tim Berry — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:23:56 +0000

@Ben I like your point “paper they’re printed on.” Maybe that’s the problem: a lot of the best and most useful business plans, ones that are part of the planning process, never get printed. A printed document is something static; a business plan needs to be alive and growing.

By: No, 37 Signals, Planning Is NOT What You Think

No, 37 Signals, Planning Is NOT What You Think — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:21:34 +0000

[...] Click here to read more… [...]

By: Dick Bendtzen

Dick Bendtzen — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:37:30 +0000

There are three reasons to take the time – and the effort – to write a business plan. First to help obtain financing (can’t get a loan without one), second is to develop an objective evaluation for your success (dreams good in the head, looks different on paper), and the third -and most important – is to have an operations guide for your business. It should change as business conditions change. Use it and don’t let it gather dust on a shelf.

By: Keith Casey

Keith Casey — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:16:09 +0000

Good call and I use the analogy of planning a trip:

You already have a destination, you choose a rough start time and a rough path. There are always unforeseen things that come up that may change things. Some are “known unknowns” like traffic around a major city or a baseball game wrapping up while others are “unknowable unknowns” like a car accident or a flat tire. Either way, you can acknowledge those (Risk Assessment) and either plan around them or lessen their impact (Risk Mitigation).

The idea of starting off with *no* plan, no rough estimates, or even a metric of when to try plan B is careless at minimum and stupid at worst.

By: damon

damon — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:45:16 +0000

“Good business planning is always a process involving metrics, following up, setting steps, reviewing results, and course correction.”

How wonderfully true and naive. Sure that is business planning utopia, ie does not exist. Reality is more like how Matt describe (not saying this is correct, just pretty normal).

By: dude

dude — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:21:01 +0000

Stopped reading at: 37Signals, a great Web app for project management.

What a waste of time. Must you take everything so literally?