My favorite historical figure is William Howard Taft. President, Chief Justice, and had a much better mustache than that bastard Theodore Roosevelt whom he replaced.
— Jason Fried
Dressing casually doesn’t make you unprofessional. The only time I wear a suit is to a wedding. Wearing a suit to the office means you’re a communist.
— Jason Fried
Your desk is your ship—keep it neat and tidy. The only things on my desk are my computer, a pad of paper and a pen. One time an intern put his coffee mug on my desk and I fired him immediately.
— Jason Fried
We don’t listen to music in the office. We listen to US Army audio transcripts from the front lines of the Vietnam War. The power of these bits of history really help us focus on fixing bugs in Basecamp.
— Jason Fried
If you’re not prepared for your presentation, don’t tell the audience. Conferences are expensive and people don’t pay to listen to excuses and apologies. They pay to listen to your bullshit thoughts about business trends.
— Jason Fried
We don’t have rigid 40-hour work weeks. My employees can work as much or as little as they want—all I care is that they deliver. Timecards are the enemy. The only thing timecards will prove is that your employees are liars.
— Jason Fried
Make a list of your application’s current functionality. Then remove the bottom two items. Most of your customers won’t even notice. It’s called increasing profit margin.
— Jason Fried
I don’t make plans. Plans are just guesses. It may be hard for my friends to deal with when planning parties, but I don’t RSVP. RSVPs are just guesses.
— Jason Fried
Don’t confuse features with functionality. Don’t confuse user experience with user interface. Don’t confuse me smiling with me being interested in what you’re talking about.
— Jason Fried
I spend at least one hour a day free thinking. Some of my best ideas come from that time. Yesterday I figured out a way to make books even simpler: No covers. Just pages. Why waste time with covers? My time is valuable.
— Jason Fried
