Of course this is too big and too tall and too long, but how can you argue with a list of 50? Particularly when it comes from somebody who knows the territory. Take a look at 50 Essential Strategies For Creating A Successful Web 2.0 Product on Dion Hinchcliffe’s Web 2.0 Blog.
He starts with a pleasantly nerdish diagram, which I can’t resist (sorry, it’s the MBA in me, even 25 years later) reproducing here (from his blog, by the way):
Don’t worry, he explains software architecture and product design, as follows:
Software architecture determines a web application’s fundamental structure and properties: resilience, scalability, adaptability, reliability, changeability, maintainability, extensibility, security, technology base, standards compliance and other key constraints, and not necessarily in that order.
Product design determines a web application’s observable function: Usability, audience, feature set, capabilities, functionality, business model, visual design and more. Again, not necessarily in priority order.
So that’s cool enough by itself, and it’s a nice introduction to a thought-provoking list of 50 strategies. They’re actually more like tips, or snippets, all of them worth thinking about. “Start with a simple problem,” for example, and–my personal favorite–“release early and release often.”
If you’re anywhere near product development for the web these days, read this list. You won’t accept all of them, for sure, but you’ll think about some of them.
Tim Berry is the founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software and Bplans.com. Follow him on Twitter @Timberry.
