5/30/2008, 9:15am, Portland, OR

Here are some of my notes from Railsconf 2008. Warning these notes are only vaguely edited (but arguably still useful). There are certainly typos and errors. If executing code from one of these articles, your mileage may vary (from spontaneous self destruction of everything you know and love to spontaneous coolness). Also, you may want to double check “facts”. You definitely should not use these articles as a spelling reference. Feel free to post corrections.

Intro by DHH on Joel:
  • Joel is author of Joel On Software
  • Generated programming language to generate other programming language
  • fighting complexity (anti-architect astronaut)

Joel’s Talk Begins…

Why does Brad Pitt make so much more money and have a bigger brand than Ian Somerhalder? What becomes “blue chip software” rather than off brand?

Herman Miller Aeron Chair was the bluechip chair. All types of people make clones. Clones didn’t have market share. This happens in every field. Happens in music as well.

Great software has three components that make them blue chip:
  • Make people happy
  • Obsess over aesthetics
  • Observing the culture code

Make People Happy (Agency)

[Very funny example about logging in to windows to post a photo and then having to install windows downloads and then use original install a file from the insert original install disk. In a word you feel enslaved (you are not in control of the process)]

Martin Seligman pioneering psychologist of “Learned Helplessness” liked to study happy people which is rare amongst psychologists.

Example: Someone dies > you are stuck in bed depressed > you loose your job and that you begin to believe that you lack agency and then you begin to teach yourself that you are helpless. Seligman’s strategy was to teach people that they have power over there environment through tricking the brain into a virtuous cycle of having agency (initially through accomplishment of simple tasks).

Abercrombie ecommerce checkout forces you through 4 pages. Amazon gives you all the options at once (change address, shipping options, etc). This is Joel’s first example of giving the user agency.

Make people happy by putting them in control (speed of response is also important here – the business case for AJAX).

Obsess over aesthetics

Samsumg Blackjack vs iPhone.
  • Blackjack faster
  • iphone bricks if you install third party software
  • Blackjack ugly & iphone is seamless and shiny (if you accidentally swallowed one it would go right down)
  • Blackjack replaceable battery – iphone doesn’t (avoids the non aesthetic seam). Another example is looking at the bottom of the MacBook vs. thinkpad.

Apple design decisions are about fashion. Another example is a historical Paris apartment building in Paris has no fire escapes. It turns out fire escapes are zoned, but the appartment buildings are reclasified as monuments and they are not inspected. This is another example of taking aesthetics as more important than core functionality.

Programers call this lipstick and say I want to work in the guts (the 90% of the iceberg below the surface). But it turns out that aesthetics are very important. To programmers it is not clear why artists such as Basquaiat etc. sell paintings for $50+ million. Specifically programmers don’t get modernist architecture.

Modernist principles remove all decoration from architecture. There is a parallel here between the programers gravitation to the command line vs. glossy operating systems.

The Culture Code

Example: the promotion of sport utility vehicles. Deaths per million cars:
  • Toyota Camry 41
  • Ford Explorer 88
This has to do with a number of factors. But you feel safe in these vehicals. This has to do with promotion (see the culture code).
  • Everything around you should be round and soft
  • You should be up high (on the reptilion level if you feel tall you feel you are dominating)
  • Key element of safety as a child is being fed if everything is round, soft, high, and you feel fed (cupholders) you feel safe.

Another example like this is the word “Enterprise”. Recalls tokyo at night, a clean server room, the starship enterprise, people in clean business suits looking up(image).

Another example is Web 2.0. Lots of logos. They don’t have visions they go to parties… etc. Why the luck stiff :-) How could beauty, happiness, motivation, pride, pleaseure, enthusiasm be involved in coding. Very funny counter examples for python and java go here…

This all boils down to Misattribution. You have a physical reaction and you think that it has something to do with the mental plane but it doesn’t. People on the right hand side of the movie have 10% greater ratings than the left.