Comments on: Does “rails” contribute to a better customer experience?

By: 37 Signals Launches HighRise - CRM for the Small Business/Entrepreneur at LocalZing - Local Internet Marketing

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 01:49:46 +0000

[...] I’m a huge fan of 37Signals and have followed them ever since they were a usability company through their transformation into a product company. Anyway about a year ago I heard they were working on a CRM product called Sunrise, which they have apparently agonized over, scrapped, and reworked. I think we can safely assume that Highrise is the next instantiation of that product. [...]

By: Riel Roussopoulos

Riel Roussopoulos — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 22:34:00 +0000

We’ve also been working on a Ruby on Rails based CRM for some time now.

It is fully functional for one of our businesses and we are in the latter stages of a major overhaul on the design and UI site to make it a more general application (it was originally done to manage a Christmas lighting company).

Please take a look, unlike sunrise, we’ve made it an opensource project and you can download the code at our website XLsuite.org.

We welcome any and all contributions and suggestions.

Thank you.

Riel Roussopoulos

By: Thought Leadership

Thought Leadership — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 20:05:59 +0000

Charity Tag Meme…

As a blogger, people may know you, but how good does anyone ever really know anyone? One way to get to know someone better is for them to talk about charities they support. What if bloggers were to go down a path of thinking about some of the peo ……..

By: Simon de Haast

Simon de Haast — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 13:10:10 +0000

Reading this post inspired a variety of riffs from me:

1. It just doesn’t matter. Check out this blog entry from 37S that reinforces their “focus on keeping it simple.” http://37signals.com/svn/archives2/it_just_doesnt_matter.php
“I think that statement embodies what makes a product great. Figuring out what matters and leaving out the rest.”

2. “The power of patterns”
A friend recommended a book to me, Pattern Language (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195019199/sr=8-1/qid=1142254868/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-9048805-3280928) that talks about the various architypes of great buildings, and why the combination of those ‘patterns’ really make a space work, and others are void of any feeling eg. light from two sides… I wonder if there is an emerging pattern language for user-interface design that can be broken into components like Christopher Alexander has done.

3. Metatools.
I read a strategy book once that said the reason the Japanese economy grew so successfully in the beginning was because they “made the tools that made the tools”. I guess in a was that’s 37S’s situation.

By: karl long

karl long — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 23:26:54 +0000

haha, popular poster child they are, but I think you’re right to point out they invented rails. The problem is they are the best known example of products built on rails. But my idea that rails might contribute to a better use experience didn’t come from using there products. It came from me doing some tutorials with the rails and noticing how consistently controls and various UI elements were implemented.

I actually used locomotive - a mac os x stand alone rails “IDE” http://locomotive.raaum.org/home/show/HomePage

and followed this brief video tutorial: http://locomotive.sourceforge.net/images/locomotive_intro.mov

By: Jess McMullin

Jess McMullin — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 23:10:34 +0000

So I might be misreading here, in that you’re crediting rails for some of 37S success. I agree, and - in the uncomfortable position of advocating for an already popular poster child - 37S gets the credit for Rails too…they invented it.

By: karl long

karl long — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 14:47:28 +0000

Thanks Mike. It’s kind of building upon some ideas from Yahoo releasing open source design patterns, it frees the designers of basic decisions so they can move onto higher level activities.

cheer,

Karl

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 02:56:17 +0000

I think you’ve discovered an anomaly in the 80/20 rule. Design patterns can get you only so far, and good design can only impact an app so much. You’ve nailed it though–

“…there are so many details that ‘rails’ is helping making more consistent that 37signals can focus on building a great products.”

By: karl long

karl long — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 20:52:01 +0000

Ahh, maybe I was too cryptic, from what I understand, it’s actually a 37signals interpretation of CRM. Something for small businesses to keep track of conversations with customers. I’m very excited about it, if there is any software category ready for a “feature diet” its CRM.

By: Zeke Sneaker

Zeke Sneaker — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 19:21:31 +0000

So what’s the whisper rumor…what does Sunrise do?