3 ms·

What Software Development Can Learn From Motown

• orta 14y ago
  There's some interesting ideas here that (I've heard) are quite similar to how Apple works; small teams, iterate quickly, make multiple attempts at the same thing and have a single person who can easily say no to something. These guys were basically applying agile concepts to the song recording business and doing a great job.
• fredsanford 14y ago
  Good luck finding the software versions of James Jamerson, Papa Zita and Eddie Willis, the master of the guitar "chink".
  • zwieback 14y ago
    That's exactly what I was thinking - "Yeah, but they had Jamerson". Today Motown is primarily remembered for its stars and craftsmen. However, what attracted all those musicians was a working system and that was put in place by some very creative businessmen. And in a lot of ways it's the exact opposite of what we read about here on HN, which is "throw something out there fast to create traction and then grow from there." At Motown is was a centrally planned and fully encapsulated process.