Writing In Public, Inside Your Company

The 37signals Guide to Internal Communication The how, where, why, and when we communicate. Long form asynchronous? Real-time chat? In-person? Video? Verbal? Written? Via email? In Basecamp? How do we keep everyone in the loop without everyone getting tangled in everyone else’s business? It’s all in here. Rules of thumb, and general philosophy B... See more

“Writing shows up within a company in two primary ways: paper trails and curations.

Paper trails are documented accounts of what happened, typically produced in the run of work while it’s happening. Meeting notes are the most obvious example.

Curations are artifacts of work produced to contribute to the system of shared knowledge. These are typically... See more

This problem has driven me particularly crazy because discussing ideas with my team is so critical. When I get up in the morning, I don’t get amped about writing a beautiful doc but I do get excited about the contributions, ideas, and thoughts from my coworkers.

Start with an ambitious, high-potential idea, but challenging and full of ambiguities — the rough shape of a nascent great idea. It typically isn’t new, but solves many problems in a simpler, more intuitive way. It ignites people’s curiosity and self-motivation. At the end, it should seem “obvious” so that others want to copy, because there aren’t ... See more