[reidman]

This article, and the last paragraph in particular, strike me as another disingenuous snowball fight. Except with semantics instead of snowballs.

It seems pretty obvious that 37signals, when talking about 'plans', refers to the massive business plans which are the hallmark of people who don't have a chance of seeing them through.

But this is really just a debate between a guy who happens to sell business plans and a bunch of guys who happen to sell un-business-plans, soooo...

[koepked]

But this is really just a debate between a guy who happens to sell business plans and a bunch of guys who happen to sell un-business-plans, soooo...

It's better than that, this is a debate between a guy who happens to sell the same business plan that 37Signals gives away:

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/1599181908/187-6998830-4936328?...

[cubicle67]

It looks like you're right, and that it's the classic case of two people arguing about the same thing. Here's a quote from the book linked to above

" ... In The Plan-as-You-Go Business Plan, Tim Berry makes these points much more eloquently than I ever could. Tim argues that the planning process (along with regular reviews) is so important that business owners just need to get started somewhere, anywhere, and continue to build your plan as your needs change. This is 180 degrees different from the classical "big bang" approach to business planning where we work for months at a time developing a huge document before we ever get started working on the business."

[BerislavLopac]

"It seems pretty obvious that 37signals, when talking about 'plans', refers to the massive business plans which are the hallmark of people who don't have a chance of seeing them through."

If it's pretty obvious, I don't see it. From Matt's article I also gather that he sees any formal "plan", i.e. a set of steps and activities put together in advance, as something to restricting and necessary. Just as on the issue of bootstrapping vs. external funding the 37signals people seem too rigid in viewing their choices as being the best and only correct.

The quotes posted below describe the situation perfectly.

[tjogin]

That guy seems to be looking really close for things he can misunderstand or misconstrue in order to have a disagreement.

This is probably not the first time he's read something he "disagrees" with at 37signals. It reads like a lot of pent up frustration is finally being let loose.

[dinkumthinkum]

I sort of agree that he is grasping here. However, I don't think it is very unusual to find many things to disagree with 37signals about.