Overview
Philosophy
Technology
Managmement
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Philosophy
Simple is better than complex
Complexity leads to fragility. The more moving parts in your
product, the more opportunities there are for things to go wrong.
Complex products are more difficult to test, less secure, and
harder to learn. They are, however, easier to sell.
At Timetrics, simplicity is a driving design goal. In product
design: Do as many features as necessary, but no more - because it
is better to do a few things very well, than many poorly. In
product development: Write the fewest lines of code, have the
fewest dependencies, and invent as little as possible to get
the job done. In user interface: Keep the interface so simple
that no more than one page of documention is required to use
the product in the typical manner - a 100 page manual is a
sign of a poorly designed product.
Do the right thing
A product should work out of the box, with little customization
necessary for an average user. Requiring extensive setup
and configuration before a product is useful is a sign of a
poorly designed product. Good defaults and a minimum of
configuration points is a major goal at Timetrics.
1 second of your time is worth 100,000 of ours
Because there are more than 100,000 users of a product for each developer,
if we can save you one second of time using the product, then it
is worth 100,000 of ours to make it happen. Many products have
architectures and implementation details that are designed
primarily to make the job of the developer easier. At Timetrics,
the user comes first.
There is a common delusion in software that ones product should
be the most important application on a users machine. Why wouldn't
someone want to spend time interacting with our application?
Our goal is to be taken for granted - to be as easy to use and
require as little involvement as your toaster.
Don't be evil
No spyware, no adware, no collecting information behind a user's
back. We have no desire to "present you with exciting offers
from our partners". We don't collect "anonymous usage statistics".
We don't "phone home" to "check for updates and special offers".
The deal we make with you is simple. We provide useful product,
you pay us.
We could make money bundling adware, collecting and using information
about your activities, and frequently presenting you with product
offers... but that would be wrong.
If your customers aren't happy, nobody is happy
It is entirely possible to build a profitable business with
customers that dislike your products and your company, but it
isn't good for your customers, it isn't good for your employees, and
it isn't a good long-term business model. It may sound cliche, but
customer satisfaction is our most important priority. We would
rather have 5 happy customers than 10 unhappy ones.
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