Simplicity: This is a good essay that’s a huge counterpoint to the “embrace limitations” philosophy that 37 Signals started pushing a few years ago when Basecamp came out.
I think what Joel is saying is that you need features, but they need to appear simple to the end users. And I think this is what 37 Signals did with Basecamp. It’s not a simple product – there are a lot of a features there, they’re just not all right in your face competing for your attention.
I think it is a misattribution to say, for example, that the iPod is successful because it lacks features. If you start to believe that, you’ll believe, among other things, that you should take out features to increase your product’s success. With six years of experience running my own software company I can tell you that nothing we have ever done at Fog Creek has increased our revenue more than releasing a new version with more features. Nothing.
The flow to our bottom line from new versions with new features is absolutely undeniable. It’s like gravity. When we tried Google ads, when we implemented various affiliate schemes, or when an article about FogBugz appears in the press, we could barely see the effect on the bottom line. When a new version comes out with new features, we see a sudden, undeniable, substantial, and permanent increase in revenue.