Purposive Drift

Planning is Utopian

Regular readers will hardly be surprised that when I saw the following quote from Jason Fried of 37signals in one of my favourite sites, Creating Passionate Users I had to track it down:

"'Make it up as you go along. You're in a much better place to make a decision when you're in it, than when you're planning.'

'I think it is MORE utopian to think you can plan everything in advance.'"

Very purposive drift.

You can listen to Jim Coudal of Coudal Partners and Jason Fried of 37signals presentation at SXSW 2006 here (or read Jim Coudal's bit here) Their talks and the following QA are filled with gems to mull over. Well worth several listens. The blurb below tells you what they are talking about, but doesn't capture the wit and insights they provide in how they tell it.

"Frustrated by the conventional "work-for-hire" model of the creative business, Jim Coudal of Coudal Partners and Jason Fried of 37signals have pushed their companies in a decidedly more entrepreneurial direction over the past two years. With the idea of taking a greater amount of control over the creative they produce, both firms have built products and businesses which allow them a large degree of independence and the ability to apply the crafts of design, writing and programming for their own benefit. As Coudal said in a recent article, 'the only way to free yourself from the tyranny of clients is to become one.'"