I’ve got to give a shout-out to the guys at 37 Signals here.

They have written, as far as I’m concerned, the best book in existence on how to develop a web app, called Getting Real. This book is fun and easy to read - you can bang it out in a day - but it’s the type of book you’ll constantly be referring back to as you work to build the perfect app. Here’s a peek:

Decisions are temporary so make the call and move on
Done. Start to think of it as a magical word. When you get to done it means something’s been accomplished. A decision has been made and you can move on. Done means you’re building momentum.

But wait, what if you screw up and make the wrong call? It’s ok. This isn’t brain surgery, it’s a web app. As we keep saying, you’ll likely have to revisit features and ideas multiple times during the process anyway. No matter how much you plan you’re likely to get half wrong anyway. So don’t do the “paralyis through analysis” thing. That only slows progress and saps morale.

Instead, value the importance of moving on and moving forward. Get in the rhythm of making decisions. Make a quick, simple call and then go back and change that decision if it doesn’t work out.

Accept that decisions are temporary. Accept that mistakes will happen and realize it’s no big deal as long as you can correct them quickly. Execute, build momentum, and move on.

Brilliant. I just decided I’m going to read this thing a fourth time starting tonight! And they’ve also recently made it available for free online for all you penny-pinchers.

I’m reading a book right now that is a real page turner - The Cluetrain Manifesto.

I’m not quite done yet, but this is one of the best thing i’ve read on how the Internet is changing the world and the implications for commerce.

Here’s a quote that just resonates:

Markets are conversations; and
Conversation is fire. Therefore,
Marketing is arson.

Marketing has come to be about the stuff business moves, not about the stuff that moves business - ideas. Talk that lasts is about stuff we can’t stop talking about. In other words, what makes the most meaningful ideas combustible is also what makes them inextinguishable.

If this is something you are remotely interested in or make a living from, I’d buy this book right now - I guarantee it will be $14 very well spent. You can even read the whole thing for free online here.

I’d like to thank my new friend Claude Benard, who writes the leading French travel 2.0 blog Les Explorers, for introducing his readers to VibeAgent.

Claude’s blog is mostly in French, but for all of us linguistically-challenged Americans, many of the interviews Claude conducts with travel 2.0 entrepreneurs are in English.

Thanks again Claude!