Getting Real by 37signals is a must-read for those writing web applications. The book was first published in 2006; and despite the progress and changes in web development since then, this remains an accurate source of inspiration. I’m re-reading it these days, and the following section entitled “Make Opinionated Software” kind-of summaries the state of mind I have when developing theSCRUM:

Some people argue software should be agnostic. They say it’s arrogant for developers to limit features or ignore feature requests. They say software should always be as flexible as possible.

We think that’s bullshit. The best software has a vision. The best software takes sides. When someone uses software, they’re not just looking for features, they’re looking for an approach. They’re looking for a vision. Decide what your vision is and run with it.

And remember, if they don’t like your vision there are plenty of other visions out there for people. Don’t go chasing people you’ll never make happy.

A great example is the original wiki design. Ward Cunningham and friends deliberately stripped the wiki of many features that were considered integral to document collaboration in the past. Instead of attributing each change of the document to a certain person, they removed much of the visual representation of ownership. They made the content ego-less and time-less. They decided it wasn’t important who wrote the content or when it was written. And that has made all the difference. This decision fostered a shared sense of community and was a key ingredient in the success of Wikipedia.

Our apps have followed a similar path. They don’t try to be all things to all people. They have an attitude. They seek out customers who are actually partners. They speak to people who share our vision. You’re either on the bus or off the bus.

The goal of theSCRUM is not to be the swiss knife of Agile teams, or to be a challenger to advanced solutions like VersionOne. If I should describe the vision for theSCRUM:

• Reduce the time spent on the tool, focus agile teams on the product they are building, not on the tool they are using,
• Just the necessary level of features: management of product backlogs, sprint backlogs if teams don’t want to use post-its, and product roadmap. That’s all.

The next version is coming soon, with improvements of the current tools… Stay tuned!