EP43: DHH, a personal interview (part 1)

David Heinemeier Hansson started working with Jason Fried as a contract worker from Denmark. How did he eventually become a partner at 37signals? I’ve kept in touch with David over the years, and we’d planned on doing an interview for awhile now. It finally happened this past week. This is a pretty personal interview. I spoke with David about growing up in Copenhagen, and how he met Jason (there’s a great story in there). We also discussed his new book (with Jason Fried) called  Remote, and how he stays motivated when writing. This is part 1 of the interview. Sponsors This show wouldn’t be possible without these great sponsors. When you support them, you support the show! Are you creating an application that needs charts or a dashboard?  FusionCharts is a JavaScript charting solution trusted by over 450,000 developers around the world. They have tons of interactive and animated charts with advanced features like tooltips, drill-down, chart export and zoom. Their charts also work across PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones and Android devices. You can download a free-trial at: Go to fusioncharts.com Sprint.ly has been there from the beginning. Perfect for software teams of 3 or more people, Sprint.ly is the easiest way for managers and developers to track the software development process. You and your team can try Sprint.ly for free, go to  www.sprint.ly. Use the code productpeopletv2013 to get 10% off! And let me share with you something that one of our listeners is working on: Follow @TopSideConcepts on Twitter.Randy is working on a product that will help companies improve their service by prioritizing input from customers. It’s a really neat concept. Check it out: www.topsideconcepts.com Notable quotes Can anyone at 37signals take advantage of moving to warmer climates?  “Absolutely: I think about 1/4 of our people are in Chicago. We have quite a few people have moved around a lot. I think Jeremy Kemper, who’s on the Rails core team, has moved about 4 or 5 times; mostly to warmer places on the West Coast. One of our support people, Kristin, just moved from Chicago to Portland. So, we definitely have people who take advantage of wherever they want to live. This is one of the great benefits of remote working – you can choose to live exactly where you want to, and it doesn’t really matter. I don’t drop a beat: it doesn’t matter if I’m in Spain or Chicago.” “For me, personally, it’s great to not be in the same city as everyone else. I do my best work in solitude. I love those short bursts of bandwidth with in-person collaboration.” “People overemphasize the benefits of collaboration. Collaboration is great; but it’s overused in terms as a tool.” “For me, the most important part of writing is having something to say.” What’s your strategy for writing? “I’ve been working on this book for the past 10 years (in terms of my forming the ideas, and gather the experiences). When it came to recording it all, the best strategy for me was to put on the turbo chargers and get it done.” “[Growing up] I always loved good writing. That was my inspiration for starting my own magazine in high school.” “That happens a lot: I get inspired by something, or someone, and say – ‘Hey, I want to do that to.'” Show notes Remote: Office not required (David and Jason’s new book – out October 29, 2013) “Inspiration is perishable” DHH on Twitter David’s personal blog 🎙️ Podcast hosting is provided by Transistor.fm.📺 Learn how to start your own podcast!