David A. McClain just created Muffin, an app that aims to make budget tracking simple. He wrote to tell us how much Getting Real helped:
Dear 37signals! Thank you! I have a number of things to thank you guys for but top of my list today is Getting Real. You see, today I launched a web app (Muffin)! It's actually real, not a concept, not a limited private beta but a real living breathing product! And without "Getting Real" I would still be just getting started.
I'm just a guy with a regular day job who in fact has never written so much as a "Hello World" before now (but that's the subject of another thank you)!
Everything I did, every decision I made, every piece of code I wrote (or didn't write) went automatically through the "Getting Real" filter and I genuinely believe I made a better product because of it. And more fundamentally, I made something!
Thank you 37signals. Thank you for sharing. I hope someday soon I'll be in a position to help someone like you helped me.
We asked David if he had any words of wisdom for other readers:
Words of "wisdom": Don't let fear hold you back. I've let it hold me back from so much over the years. Making Muffin via Getting Real I think, not to get too psychological on you, is the mark of a real change for me. I've heard plenty of times that "you can do anything if you set your mind too it" and for me this book explained to me the "how".
Off the top of my head, one chapter that stuck with me daily was "Code Speaks". Code may speak, but I found myself really trying to listen.
The other thing I found myself really attached to was the idea of designing for the different states your app may be in. Specifically when there's no data to display, "The Blank Slate".
Thank you for taking an interest in my story. I feel about 37signals, the way most average American women feel about Oprah! So as you can image, to hear from you is a pretty big deal for me!
That's right, 37signals is the new Oprah! Heh. But seriously, thanks so much David and good luck with Muffin.
