Listening to the Product

Tom Peters, management guru, interviews Jason Fried about Basecamp, a web-based product for project management and collaboration. Fried is the founder of 37signals, a web design firm that productized some of its tools.   

Fried has a great spiel on how simplicity and focus (structural, visual, and content) in product design can add up to superior user experience. Also, he's very conscious of the importance of clear writing and expression, especially for decentralized project teams, who use email, IM, and phone to mediate between people.

Also, Fried has an very zen attitude towards product design and development, with a short planning horizon that enables the team to be very flexible and open to opportunities. Listening to the product, no long-term plans that constrain the future, and a fierce commitment to the product and to excellence in general -- there's a lot of good stuff here.