It Doesn't Have to be Crazy at Work

by Jason Fried

“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”

Nearly all product work at Basecamp is done by teams of three people. It’s our magic number. A team of three is usually composed of two programmers and one designer. And if it’s not three, it’s one or two rather than four or five. We don’t throw more people at problems, we chop problems down until they can be carried across the finish line by teams of three.

Any conversation with more than three people is typically a conversation with too many people.

Just like work expands to fill the time available, work expands to fill the team available.

Taking a breather gives you perspective.

Taking a risk doesn’t have to be reckless.

Change is often seen as stressful, but the polar opposite, monotony, can be even worse. You can only work exactly the same way, at the same pace, doing the same work for so long before monotony bites.

Sell new customers on the new thing and let old customers keep whatever they already have. This is the way to keep the peace and maintain the calm.

we never force anyone to upgrade to a new version.

A business is a collection of choices. Every day is a new chance to make a new choice, a different choice.