A Blog About Making Culture
How Do We Judge Our Tools?
July 27, 2005
Just to be a little bit contrary, I'm gonna share some thoughts on products and services and companies I actually like but that I have some skeptical (cynical?) questions about. Consider this a disclaimer: Just because I'm asking a question doesn't mean I'm not a big fan of their work.
First, Blinksale. They're getting lots of links and attention the past few days for making a simple invoicing service, apparently targetted at independent consultants or small shops. I've already weighed in on my feelings on billing one's clients, so I've got strong opinions here, but I'm sure Blinksale meets anyone's standard set of needs.
What I'm concerned about is a little bit of kool-aid drinking, not on the part of the team behind the app (In a refreshing change, I don't know who built the service, I just know people are talking about it.) but rather on the part of those who are writing about it and linking to it.
A lot of the links to the service say things like "full of AJAXy goodness!" or "guess how small the dev team was?" or "it's Ruby on Rails!". People, this is a tool for helping your business make more money. The criteria for success include things like "It made my client pay faster.", "It reminded me to collect from someone that hadn't paid." or "It reduced overhead in creating an invoice.". I'm disheartened that so many people, especially those in the design community who are (ideally) focused on creating a good experience for users, don't judge an application by the goals it's supposed to accomplish.
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Amen to that, Anil.
The focus these days has definitely shifted to the underlying technology, thanks to things like sIFR, Ruby on Rails, AJAX and more such Cool Stuff™. However, as much as we all want to innovate the web, making something that’s innovative is only useful if it serves a purpose. Preferrably making more money or reducing costs.
However, I believe that it’s more an issue of these people being (too) excited about all this new fun stuff we’re getting, than an actual shift in forgetting what’s important. Give them 6 months of seeing similar sites emerge every other day and people will remember what matters, again.
Andrew
How do we judge our blog post titles? This one is… attention-getting, perhaps attention-seeking?
Josh Williams
Hey Anil, just caught this post from our referrers… Blinksale is my company’s brainchild. And no, we haven’t had the pleasure to meet yet.
All that said, you’re absolutely right. We created Blinksale because following up with clients when their payment was past due is a pain in the butt. The framework, the AJAX-whatever, the logo… it’s all fluff. It might be fluff that makes things work, but that’s not the point. The point is that I can send (and follow up on) invoices a whole lot faster now. Thanks so much for you thoughts.
Anonymous
their site looks like it’s for a toy. I need something that looks deadly serious if I’m going to let it handle my invoices
DL Byron
Finally, thank you … some AJAX buzzkill. I noted in a chat earlier this week that all this AJAX talk reminded me of back in the day, when it was Dan Steinman’s DHTML, and you could find that code used and talked about everywhere. Maybe I’m at the curmudgeon stage of my career, where everything old is new again, or when developers applaud themselves, while their code gets lost in difficult design and baffling interfaces. We need a meme watcher that says things like, “uhm anyone else notice that Technorati actually sucks? Or, “man Flickr is actually quite tedious to use” Or, “why is e-commerce still difficult to do.” I also recently quipped, “hey! We did our product with 7 people and no AJAX.” Or, best for this week, “new with 11 yr old maps!”
What matters is how easy an app is to use (and that it doesn’t use old data.) See MSN Virtual Earth: Bloggers can’t see the forest for the trees. Another question is why is everything a beta?
neilio 
Agreed!
I think the whole “Web 2.0” idea is great in concept. It’s really exciting to see how savvy developers and designers are making web-based tools even more useful. But, at the same time, for these to take the place of less flashy but more reliable offline alternatives they need to overcome the inherent instability of the web as a platform. As an example, Basecamp is incredibly useful and I rely more and more on it every day. But, when it’s down, it can be a huge issue.
Web applications need to at least match the reliability and control available with offline alternatives before they can truly be considered “the better way”.
Developers also need to build data safeguards into their systems so that things such as backing up data is both automated and controllable by customers. I should be able to pull down my data for safekeeping just as easily as I can backup my files to an external hard drive. Again, it’s about making the web application function just like a local application, but with even more good stuff.
Anonymous
Totally agreed, Anil, but then TALKING about AJAXy goodness is almost as buzz-worthy as having AJAXy-goodness. That is to say, people are people and shiny things motivate people to write. There’s no routing around that one sadly.
This is the point in the comment I mention blockbuster movies, network television, fast food aand the word Jaguar.
Noah Brier
Some great points. I highly reccomend this fantastic Creating Passionate Users entry titled “Users don’t care if you’re the best”. Not surprisingly (by the title), it’s a suggestion for companies to quit talking about themselves and start talking about the good they do for their customers.
Dan Hartung
Don’t be all sensible and shit, Dash.
I do think there’s a place for the whole passion thing. Kathy Sierra writes about this all the time. — what she calls the “I rule!” experience. What 37signals keeps saying over and over, and getting affirmative nods from Tom Peters and others, is that the super-duper tools are a means to an end, and that the small teams can equal or exceed bigcorps if they understand the whole emotional connection with the user.
So I don’t discount that entirely. I don’t want to make this too much of a slice, but that’s something that Six Apart has sacrificed over time — not to say that you guys don’t still work hard to create a sense of community and shared goals.
In terms of Blinksale, if the users get that whole “Wow!” feeling of using the program, maybe it will be more effective as a business tool. Certainly as a product the question of whether it will be successful is not 100% tied to the effectiveness question.
Dan Hartung
Hrmm, this post is on your feed, but not on your front page. FYI.
Trevor
I think it’s fair to judge a product based on how nice of a web-app it is (and blinksale is very nice looking and works very smoothly). However, I agree with you that, on the other hand, a web-app isn’t worth jack if it isn’t a useful tool. I’m also a little bothered with all of this back-patting that you’re hinting at. Anywhoot…
Anil Dash
I actually totally agree with Dan that we’ve sacrificed some of the emotional connection, and I think we’re in the process of returning to our roots on that. But the thing we’ve learned in that process is, “Wow!” can be because a sensitive design team really pleased the user, or it can be an early stage of infatuation that wears off after the yellow has faded. Some of the more subtle points of running a web app, especially a web 2.0 app, don’t become obvious until it’s been running for a year or two.
I think the core point I wanted to raise was not about Blinksale’s dev or product process, but about our community’s review process. A really diehard emotional connection to an app is great, but if the service were free and so it were “having a massage” when I needed to send out an invoice so that I could pay my rent, I wouldn’t forgive the team just because the app was pretty. I’d switch to ugly old MS Word and make sure I got paid.
And I think effectiveness is important. But boring (and, ideally, invisible) things like reliability, uptime, scalability, redundancy and a solid business backing for your technology/platform providers is just as important. Kozmo.com was delightful to use. Ebay can be downright grueling to use. Hundreds of thousands of people pay part of their rent by using Ebay. I wonder where I’d be if I had built a business based on just-in-time sourcing using Kozmo?
And Josh, thanks for taking the time to comment. Sorry to use your application as an example, because I think it really does look like an interesting idea, but I think we can evolve our criteria for saying something’s “cool”. Blinksale may damn well be cool, but let’s have it be recognized for the right things.
(The feed-only thing was an experiment.)
Balu
And why do you think you need something “that looks deadly serious”???
Carson McComas
Ah chill out Anil ;)
Just because a site praises the technology behind a cool app doesn’t mean they don’t care about it’s benefits to users. I know that Ajax/37Signals/Ruby is due for some backlash, but isn’t this a question of audiences? For example, users and clients shouldn’t ultimately care that it’s written with validating XHTML+CSS either. But wouldn’t it have been absurd for Eric Meyer not to cover that angle? And others are covering angles appropriate for their audience. You’ve got a valid observation however in that there’s a group of disciples who blindly follow the buzz without an eye toward more important benefits.
Tremendo
Just to be a little bit contrary to your being a little bit contrary, why complain because people get excited about the things they’re passionate about?
I mean, if the blogosphere is raving about the technology rather more than the actual usefulness of a Web app, then maybe technophiles or tech pros in this space are over-represented? so?
If Blinksdale is “getting lots of attention… for making a simple invoicing service” then surely their implementation of this “simple” service is worthy of attention.
I happen to think that this passion for Ruby on Rails, for AJAX, agile development, etc. is actually exactly what the Web needs at the moment, a reinvigorating big glass of… er, kool-aid.
NeoMike
I agree that there needs to be more hype about what makes applications more successful.
Of course AJAX and Rails do contribute to making a successful application.
The hype is not without warrent, but there needs to be more hype where it belongs.
Jake Tracey
I wrote a post on my blog that carries almost the same sentiment last night - Blinksale is a perfect example of when ‘hip’ marketing lingo goes too far. It’s almost like their product doesn’t have enough merits to sell on it’s own, so they pad their writing with things that are supposed to attract who? Bloggers that are down with the hip e-lingo? Give me a break.
There is a difference of course between this kind of writing and well, ‘dense’ padded corporate stuff that everyone got sick of ages ago. The point is that if you’ve got a point, say it without throwing in garbage that no one cares about just to seem cool. It doesn’t make what you’re saying any easier to digest.
beto
Seems like the web developing community likes to fall for this time and again.
Ajax? RoR? “web standards”, validation and all that jazz… well guess what - your client doesn’t give a hoot about it all.
Making daily menial tasks easier and faster? Increase of sales and/or impressions? No longer spending time in redundant processes? Those are the things your client wants to hear and see, those are the things they are willing to pay for. “How” it all is done… that’s none of his business or care. All that counts is if your product can help on what he needs to do, and do it easy, fast and with positive and tangible results. If you can’t think of anything better than wrapping your project around the hyped tech buzzwords du jour, then perhaps you’ve got the wrong business plan in the first place.
Sometimes the developer community should try to get out of their bloggerverse more often and try to really put themselves in the client’s shoes.
Anonymous
Blinksale does use relatively new technologies, and so its early adopters will get excited about that technology. That’s how the world works—not just in blogville, but everywhere. Whether Blinksale makes the leap into the mainstream is anyone’s guess. They’ll need some big and/or sexy clients to gain credibility. Sadly, it will have less to do with the quality of the product, and more to do with their willingness to venture outside this community.
Sam
You have to look at the blogs you’re reading, which (I’m assuming) are mostly developers and early adopters, so OF COURSE they are going to get excited about how an app is built. If Ford releases a new car, mechanics aren’t going to say “Gee, it sure gets me to the place I need to be” they are going to be talking about the guts of the car, the stuff they care about.
Jason Gulledge
Yeah, its “bleeding edge” syndrome, like Sam’s comment above mine says. There are just as many people out there who care about HOW something is delivered as there are people who care about what the tool is supposed to deliver. I’m usually too busy to have the choice of platform.
Chris Wine
I think companies that are succesful in the marketplace, (meaning people choose their software most frequently) will heavily focus on branding and pr and a lot less on features. Granted AJAX could be called a feature, but at this time, it is more pr than features…
People do not want a research project. Buying decisions will be influenced by blogs, The Long Tail, and the buyers social network.
But really this concept is said best by Chris Farley in Tommy Boy.
Tommy: You can take a good look at a T-bone by sticking your head up a bull’s ass, but wouldn’t you rather take the butcher’s word for it?
Ron
wow, what a bunch of pointy-headed managers. Yes, we know that businessmen care about profits, sales, viewer impressions. But we geeks care about art and technology. Just because the client doesn’t care or even understand anything about our tools doesn’t mean that we artists/technologists can’t be passionate about them. Don’t be a philistine.
Ben
This is very well put Anil. I sometimes find myself liking the gimmick more than the experience and only sometimes catch myself. I hope this is just a blip and once the excitement of ajaz-like functionality and interfaces dies down we will get back to wondering if the users are getting something better than they had before.
David Demaree
I’ve been drinking the Rails kool-aid, but lately I’m starting to gag on it and spit it out for precisely the kind of mindless hype reflex that leads to people praising Blinksale for being AJAXy, Railsy and small teamsy.
I think Blinksale borrows a lot from Basecamp, as do all Rails apps — after all, Rails was “extracted” from Basecamp, and I’ve seen few/no applications built using the framework that really innovate beyond the mothership app. Blinksale is just Basecamp for invoice management. Hell, they even borrowed BC’s backwards pricing model — unlimited users/clients, but a limit on the number of invoices/projects you can manage.
It’s telling, I think, that the Rails community seems to value people who hack Rails itself rather than the people who use Rails to make quality software. I’ve gotten into more than one argument on the Rails mailing list where I take the position that it’s the final product that matters, and the Railsites are more into the purity of the Rails walled garden. As such, I can totally understand why people are more excited about Blinksale because it’s Rails and Ajax.
Meanwhile, I’m really interested in another new Rails app: the control panel for Strongspace, which is really just an SFTP server with a web-based front end so non-techies can use it. It’s powerful, solves a problem and is more significant for those reasons than because of its Rails-ness.
Scrivs
Am I the only one who is looking at this from a business perspective and think that anyone who starts a web app or service would die to get this kind of attention? I call it brilliant buzz marketing whether or not you think it’s sillyness from the community to hype something up simply because of its features (hell isn’t features what we want from our apps)?
Anil Dash
Scrivs, I understand the point you’re trying to make, but what small business thinks “uses a certain framework for its back-end code” is a feature in an accounting application?
Scrivs
I agree that to clearminded people using a framework as a feature shouldn’t even be an issue, but let’s face it, there are certain people who will be intrigued to use an application simply because they wish to see how Ajax or RoR is being used. I would argue that Basecamp would not be as popular as it is today if it wasn’t built with RoR because from a developer standpoint it wouldn’t be as exciting.
We know that just because something is built using RoR or design with Ajax in the interface that it will be a great product, but we also must know that using these technologies as buzzwords do help to build up the product a bit more.
Monique Powell
Excellent point you have made, but its often said that creative types aren’t too in tune with the business side of things (dont worry I know that’s not always true, Im a designer as well). I personally couldn’t care less about the technology behind the app, I just need to know that in the end it makes me more effecient at what it is that I do for a living.
Tony Wu
Anil,
Just read through your comments and I agree wholeheartedly that a Web 2.0 service should be judged on how well it accomplishes its goals. I’m the founder of Vebio (www.vebio.com), a competitor to Blinksale, so naturally I’m a bit biased here. But I do believe that our offering serves users’ invoicing needs better. For one thing, Vebio uses a PDF for the final invoice, a format that is more professional and better suited to the structured requirements of the invoicing process (as a former CFO I do have a foundation for this belief). Second, Vebio offers recurring invoice capabilities; Blinksale does not. I believe this feature to be essential for any invoicing service. After all, what is the purpose if not to save the user time and effort? An invoicing service like this should automate as much as possible. With Vebio, you can just set it up once and let it run.
No offense to the Blinksale folks as I’m sure they’ve put a lot of thought into their offering. The funny thing is that Vebio was conceived around the same time as Blinksale…maybe this was just an idea whose time has come? At any rate, I look forward to a friendly rivalry with the Blinksale guys. In the end, though, I think we’ll both have to wait for the public to determine whose service best accomplishes its goals.
Regards,
Tony
mstrozier
Maybe I’m an early adopter. Maybe I bought into the hype. But from a user-experience Blinksale is extremely frustrating to use. It’s slow and obtuse (for lack of a better word). I understand they’re going to be upgrading their servers, I understand there are future plans in the works, but that doesn’t help me today.
Today I cringed through another billing cycle waiting, at times in excess of 20 seconds, while clicking to edit an invoice. Then another extended delay (in excess of 20 seconds), while sending an invoice. Not to metion the hassles involved with sending reminders.
The problem with services like these, I’m in essence married to it unless I want to take the time and effort to transition back to what I was using, or move to another service.
I know this isn’t Blinksale’s customer service forum, and I apologize for ranting about this here, but this is one instance where the hype truly is well beyond the functionality of the tool.
teddy
“Our company develop the synchronizaion between Blinksale and MS Outlook. We think it would be useful - because Blinksale is really good application, that has the sync only with BaseCamp. So we decided that it should also have sync with Outlook (to import and invoice clients and customers from MS Outlook without having to re-enter their data into Blinksale).
I hope that it would be useful for you. To learn more, please follow the link: http://www.grabsync.com/blinksale/ or you can Email me personally: venera@grabsync.com
Thank you “
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