My editor grabbed some good hooks from a very lengthy (but dripping-with-insight!) interview. If you like these clips, you’ll really dig the long show. Here are the highlights of Joel Spolsky’s interview.
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92 Responses to “Editor’s Choice: best of Joel Spolsky’s interview”
This interview shows part of the reason FogBugz has been successful (besides the more obvious factor, viz. the popularity of JoS): Fog Creek’s insight into the software development process.
When developing products, there is no substitute for deep domain knowledge.
That poor guy sitting next to him - can you imagine being the Laurel to Joel’s Hardy?
As an ex-customer of FogCreeks software I’m a little less enamored with Joel’s pithy insights. He talks a good software app but he’s a better writer than software designer. JoelOnSoftware was a great blog, but now it’s a jobs board (one of about 2.0 million, oh the irony) and a recruiting roach-hotel for ASP/VBScript college kids. With Google in New York now and the likes of 37signals around to aspire to, his day is long gone and it’s kinda sad to still see him struggling along telling people he ‘used to work on the Excel team when it was good’…
Just watched the interview Robert… Thanks for getting that up.
I guess I’m the “poor guy” sitting next to Joel … I got the chance to start one of the most amazing software companies around when I was a green 23 yrs old, having one of the smartest people I know as my co-founder. I’ve had an opportunity that most people would kill for…
If you’re ever in NY Rick, send us an email and we’ll have you over for lunch. You can tell us where we went wrong to lose you as a customer.
[…] Spolsky at Podtech. No Comments so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI Leave a comment Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTMLallowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong> […]
Great interview. Though I’ve never used this bug tracking suite, I can tell you that without an API (or configuration ability, or semi-direct query facilities) around reporting, you will always have tech companies like NVIDIA that are happier to devote a resource to home-grown systems in an effort to keep pace with ever-expanding creativity on the part of their users.
It makes sense that the largest competition is coming from inside, as those systems are naturally more receptive to inevitable change.
Generalizing and packaging the psychology of dev shops is a tricky feat.
It’d be interesting to see a bug-tracking “layer” (analogous to WSS/MOSS in the CMS space) that provides a toolset with free reign on customization potential.
The appeal for developers tuning to a blog for martha-stewart-calibre work, that is unattainable in their own environments, would surely decline as the foundations for custom solutions evolve and converge.
great stuff…I respect the fact that he has been around for a while and is not a web-monkey come lately developer. As well, he uses the good-enough approach and that perfect is the enemy of good.
Rick S., I think you mean Tubs to his Crockett — if you meant to insult him.
I watched their interaction and thought they were an old married couple — I mean that as a compliment.
I have used all of Fog Creek’s software. City Desk was ok, but FogBugz and Copilot kill. You don’t know what pain is until you have to use something like Track-It!.
As for Copilot, I have never had problems. My father had strange computer issues and it turned out to be his home network. Copilot was the only remote control app that got me through his tangled network.
I no longer even waste time with the other freebie remote control solutions. Even my time is worth more than $5.
Finally, Michael just showed you a little class with what I take to be a sincere offer to discuss your dissatisfaction with their product — and they’ll provide lunch.
It’s a good interview, but the video streaming is driving me crazy.
If the flash player would let me “buffer” the whole video before starting to play - like youtube.com does - it would be a much more pleasent experience. This player seems to stop loading when paused.
A guy with an MBA has had his ticket punched to manage anything from a tire plant to a group of software developers. So the MBA guy doesn’t ordinarily know that developers need more than a fat paycheck and a reference library to keep them happy. And that would include appreciation, respect, communication, training, and times when developers can turn down the lightning bolts that shoot out of their fingertips. “The Best of Joel” cuts through all the boilerplate speeches Executives make to exhort the troops to work harder so that the Executive can grow the company according to his so-called plan. Business types don’t know what they want, but they will know it when they see it, if ever they do. They judge by how snappy the UI is. Schools are run like prisons. Businesses are run like prisons, too. Note use of the word “recidivism.”
[…] Seth Godin talks about noisy people and points to a video that you’ve got to watch. Oh how we shun the nonbelievers…. Speaking of Seth, Presentation Zen links to a Godin video, well worth the few minutes of time. And speaking of videos, Scoble has an interview with non other than Joel Spolsky. You have your choice of the full hour plus or 6 minutes - your call […]
Probably most software engineers or people in this field are familiar with http://www.joelonsoftware.com/. There is an interview with Joel on Scoble’s podtech, it’s over an hour long, but there is also a short 6 minutes verion !
[…] It’s Friday, and you weren’t going to get anything done anyway, so go watch Robert Scoble interview me for The Scoble Show. The full version is just over an hour. There’s also a 6 minute edited version. […]
[…] It’s Friday, and you weren’t going to get anything done anyway, so go watch Robert Scoble interview me for The Scoble Show. The full version is just over an hour. There’s also a 6 minute edited version. […]
[…] Isn’t measuring “market metrics”, in some sense, like pleasing Wall Street, just with customers instead of investors? If you focus yourself on your number of customers, your product development will inevitably look very different than if you focus on your vision. It could encourage you to take shortcuts that are lucrative in the near term, but that make you unable to keep a strong position in the long term. A great example for this is mentioned in an interview with Joel Spolsky (six minute podcast) where adding a new feature would have most probably brought his sales up, but then developers would have started to work their way around his system, a gloomy prospect in the long term for any ISV. […]
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[…] Pełna wersja Scoble Show z wywiadem z Joelem Spolsky (czas trwania około godziny) Wybrane najlepsze fragmenty wywiadu (czas trwania około 6 minut) Dodaj do: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
March 29th, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Joel, let me know when you decide to visit Cape Town, South Africa! Lets hook up and chat!
March 29th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
I really enjoyed this interview. As a developer it covered issues I’m keen on, was snappy and to the point.
March 29th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
This interview shows part of the reason FogBugz has been successful (besides the more obvious factor, viz. the popularity of JoS): Fog Creek’s insight into the software development process.
When developing products, there is no substitute for deep domain knowledge.
March 29th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
Can you please post a downloadable version (ie: non-flash) of the movie?
March 30th, 2007 at 5:13 am
Adrian,
There already is one. Look for the icon under “download this” above.
March 30th, 2007 at 8:51 am
That poor guy sitting next to him - can you imagine being the Laurel to Joel’s Hardy?
As an ex-customer of FogCreeks software I’m a little less enamored with Joel’s pithy insights. He talks a good software app but he’s a better writer than software designer. JoelOnSoftware was a great blog, but now it’s a jobs board (one of about 2.0 million, oh the irony) and a recruiting roach-hotel for ASP/VBScript college kids. With Google in New York now and the likes of 37signals around to aspire to, his day is long gone and it’s kinda sad to still see him struggling along telling people he ‘used to work on the Excel team when it was good’…
March 30th, 2007 at 9:05 am
Just watched the interview Robert… Thanks for getting that up.
I guess I’m the “poor guy” sitting next to Joel
… I got the chance to start one of the most amazing software companies around when I was a green 23 yrs old, having one of the smartest people I know as my co-founder. I’ve had an opportunity that most people would kill for…
If you’re ever in NY Rick, send us an email and we’ll have you over for lunch. You can tell us where we went wrong to lose you as a customer.
Cheers!
March 30th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Sorry for not looking more carefully, thanks for the patience
March 30th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
[…] Spolsky at Podtech. No Comments so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI Leave a comment Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTMLallowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong> […]
March 30th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Great interview. Though I’ve never used this bug tracking suite, I can tell you that without an API (or configuration ability, or semi-direct query facilities) around reporting, you will always have tech companies like NVIDIA that are happier to devote a resource to home-grown systems in an effort to keep pace with ever-expanding creativity on the part of their users.
It makes sense that the largest competition is coming from inside, as those systems are naturally more receptive to inevitable change.
Generalizing and packaging the psychology of dev shops is a tricky feat.
It’d be interesting to see a bug-tracking “layer” (analogous to WSS/MOSS in the CMS space) that provides a toolset with free reign on customization potential.
The appeal for developers tuning to a blog for martha-stewart-calibre work, that is unattainable in their own environments, would surely decline as the foundations for custom solutions evolve and converge.
March 30th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Jacques Marneweck,
I am letting you know that I want to visit South Africa in 2010 (World Cup).
Please keep in touch, so I can see some soccer and chat about software development with you.
Jag
P.S. Something tells me that I am not as welcome as Joel is.
March 30th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
[…] Robert Scoble interviews Joel Spolsky […]
March 31st, 2007 at 5:43 am
great stuff…I respect the fact that he has been around for a while and is not a web-monkey come lately developer. As well, he uses the good-enough approach and that perfect is the enemy of good.
March 31st, 2007 at 8:30 am
[…] [DEVELOPMENT] ScobleShow: best of Joel Spolsky’s video interview (6 min) (podtech.net, 11 saves) […]
March 31st, 2007 at 4:32 pm
Rick S., I think you mean Tubs to his Crockett — if you meant to insult him.
I watched their interaction and thought they were an old married couple — I mean that as a compliment.
I have used all of Fog Creek’s software. City Desk was ok, but FogBugz and Copilot kill. You don’t know what pain is until you have to use something like Track-It!.
As for Copilot, I have never had problems. My father had strange computer issues and it turned out to be his home network. Copilot was the only remote control app that got me through his tangled network.
I no longer even waste time with the other freebie remote control solutions. Even my time is worth more than $5.
Finally, Michael just showed you a little class with what I take to be a sincere offer to discuss your dissatisfaction with their product — and they’ll provide lunch.
March 31st, 2007 at 7:55 pm
It’s a good interview, but the video streaming is driving me crazy.
If the flash player would let me “buffer” the whole video before starting to play - like youtube.com does - it would be a much more pleasent experience. This player seems to stop loading when paused.
I’m viewing this from China.
April 1st, 2007 at 5:43 am
Where’s the one hour version of this interview ?
April 2nd, 2007 at 7:53 am
[…] 1) Joel Spolsky (famous dev blogger). Short. Interview. 2) Mitchell Baker (she runs Mozilla Foundation, makers of Firefox browser). Short. Interview. 3) JamGlue (cool music mashup service). Short. Interview. Demo. 4) SmartSheet (useful online spreadsheet service). Interview. Demo. 5) Seapine (software dev process software). Short. Interview. Demo. 6) TeamDirection (project management software). Short. Interview/Demo. 7) MixPo (cool widget that lets you build stories with video, photo, and audio). Short. Interview/demo. Smilebox (cool greeting-card like service). Short. Interview. Demo. Filed under: ScobleShow @ 8:53 am # […]
April 2nd, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Parisian: It’s here: http://www.podtech.net/scobleshow/technology/1414/joel-spolsky-the-famous-blogger-on-software-productivity
April 5th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
A guy with an MBA has had his ticket punched to manage anything from a tire plant to a group of software developers. So the MBA guy doesn’t ordinarily know that developers need more than a fat paycheck and a reference library to keep them happy. And that would include appreciation, respect, communication, training, and times when developers can turn down the lightning bolts that shoot out of their fingertips. “The Best of Joel” cuts through all the boilerplate speeches Executives make to exhort the troops to work harder so that the Executive can grow the company according to his so-called plan. Business types don’t know what they want, but they will know it when they see it, if ever they do. They judge by how snappy the UI is. Schools are run like prisons. Businesses are run like prisons, too. Note use of the word “recidivism.”
April 7th, 2007 at 5:56 pm
[…] Seth Godin talks about noisy people and points to a video that you’ve got to watch. Oh how we shun the nonbelievers…. Speaking of Seth, Presentation Zen links to a Godin video, well worth the few minutes of time. And speaking of videos, Scoble has an interview with non other than Joel Spolsky. You have your choice of the full hour plus or 6 minutes - your call […]
April 11th, 2007 at 2:42 am
Joel on software…
Probably most software engineers or people in this field are familiar with
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/. There is an interview with Joel on Scoble’s podtech, it’s over an hour long, but there is also a short 6 minutes verion !
My favorit…
April 11th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
[…] It’s Friday, and you weren’t going to get anything done anyway, so go watch Robert Scoble interview me for The Scoble Show. The full version is just over an hour. There’s also a 6 minute edited version. […]
April 15th, 2007 at 4:26 am
[…] It’s Friday, and you weren’t going to get anything done anyway, so go watch Robert Scoble interview me for The Scoble Show. The full version is just over an hour. There’s also a 6 minute edited version. […]
May 10th, 2007 at 2:54 am
[…] Isn’t measuring “market metrics”, in some sense, like pleasing Wall Street, just with customers instead of investors? If you focus yourself on your number of customers, your product development will inevitably look very different than if you focus on your vision. It could encourage you to take shortcuts that are lucrative in the near term, but that make you unable to keep a strong position in the long term. A great example for this is mentioned in an interview with Joel Spolsky (six minute podcast) where adding a new feature would have most probably brought his sales up, but then developers would have started to work their way around his system, a gloomy prospect in the long term for any ISV. […]
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[…] Pełna wersja Scoble Show z wywiadem z Joelem Spolsky (czas trwania około godziny) Wybrane najlepsze fragmenty wywiadu (czas trwania około 6 minut) Dodaj do: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. […]
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