Jason Stirman: "The Getting Real philosophy is a big part of why my apps have had such great success"

Jason Stirman, the man behind ohdontforget.com, recently wrote us about his new project, Mobaganda. He describes it this way: "If Evite got real.  No crap.  No bloat. Heck, even no signup or login!"

In the email, Jason said Getting Real helped shape his philosophy on creating apps:

Thanks for changing my mindset on how I develop apps.  I really believe the getting real philosophy is a big part of why my apps have had such great success.

Thanks!

We followed up to learn more about how Getting Real has inspired him.

That's all it does?  Awesome.

I am sick of web apps, but I build them for a living.  I'm sick of registering, filling out profiles, managing accounts, making connections, trying new stuff and ultimately, looking for value.  I can't build that stuff anymore, I just can't.  I read "Getting Real" as I was learning Ruby on Rails, in hopes of finding a new mindset for approaching my job.  I found a new mindset, and a renewed passion for solving problems online.

I have since built a few apps with the Getting Real philosophy, some featured on the NBC Today Show, TIME Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, Call For Help with Leo Laporte, Techcrunch, Nickelodeon, The Kim Komando Show and more.  I'm no expert, but here's what I know; Getting Real not only had a great deal to do with the success of my apps thus far, but also made building and maintaining them a real pleasure.

My most recent endeavor, Mobaganda - Propaganda For Your Friends!

Imagine if Evite got real.  Take away the bloat and clutter, take away the registration and login process, take away the clumsy address book, take away the cheesy themes, take away the spammy emails... you see what I'm getting at?  I was a frequent Evite user, but never enjoyed my experience, so I thought, I wonder what Evite would be like if it "got real"?  Mobaganda was born that night.

I started with the user experience, literally sketching out what steps would be needed to create an event, invite your friends, and see who's coming and who's not.  I also thought about new and simple features that I wish Evite had, like a global email address alias to fire off a quick email to the attendees, an rss feed, etc.  From there the code flowed naturally.  Disclaimer, I built Mobaganda with Google App Engine, which, for non-system-admins like me, enabled me to work faster, and get realer.. that's right, I got "realer", look it up.

Since launching Mobaganda one week ago, over 1500 events have been created and Google recently selected Mobaganda as an App Engine "Editors Pick"!  I get emails daily asking for this feature, or that feature.  All good ideas, but if I implement all of them, I will have rebuilt Evite!  So, instead, I step slowly and carefully, with an open mind and nimble fingers.

My first project after reading "Getting Real" was Oh, Don't Forget...

Ohdontforget.com is an sms text message reminder app, with ease. No login, no signup, no managing events, no clunky calendars, nada. It's three fields: Phone number, date/time and message. Three fields and a button, and you can easily schedule text messages to yourself or someone else, to be sent now, or sometime in the future. You don't even have to know the receiver's cell carrier, a constraint/issue that I embraced and ended up finding a creative solution for!

It was merely two weeks after releasing ohdontforget.com to some friends and family I got an e-mail from NBC asking if they could show it off on the Today Show. It turns out, people love simplicity, but rarely find it. Since, the site has been featured in many press outlets and countless web sites. I recently released an api for commercial use and am close to releasing a distribution list feature.

For every new feature I built in to ohdontforget.com since I launched it, I have turned down 20, or 30.. or maybe more. Keepin' it simple, keepin' it real.

Both of these projects were completed by me, over the course of a couple weeks, at night or on weekends... plus the help of a good friend and rockstar developer, David Giffin, to help set up the systems and manage the magic behind the scenes. Had I set out to build a bigger and better Evite, or the next great sms company, I would most likely have given up on my ideas by now.

If you're curious as to some other stuff I've been up to, check out www.stirman.net. Like I said, I'm no expert... just a problem solving nerd that finally found a way to build my ideas, and have fun doing it.

I constantly think about this quote from Getting Real when I am building an app: "It Shouldn't be a Chore." Sounds obvious, but even after doing this for several years, sometimes I find myself starting projects that I am not passionate about. For every successful app I built with the Getting Real mindset, there are two that failed because I was not passionate about them, and tried to do too much. The beauty of Getting Real, for me, is that it makes developing fun, makes my projects more meaningful and challenges me, everyday.

Great stuff Jason. Thanks for writing and good luck with everything!

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