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I've seen start up projects that I could've done solo in a couple of months that took a small team a couple of years. Perhaps speaking to the net result of the

I've seen start up projects that I could've done solo in a couple of months that took a small team a couple of years. Perhaps speaking to the net result of the product, you maybe could have done that in a couple months... But there is far more to building product and a company than one developer coding in a room. I highly doubt that you as an individual can create a solution that matches a good team with domain knogwledge, in fractions of the time it took them. This makes me think of 2048 the game, where the Dev took some time to build it, released it, and in hours there were clones in the App Store. Sure anyone can reverse engineer anything. Especially web sites where you are given their code. But thinking through, debating features and functionality, truly solving a hard problem takes time.

toolz 12y ago
That's precisely my point, although reading back I did a terrible job at making my point. I'm not a quick awesome rockstar or w.e. - I just know the value of getting something into users hands fast and finding out what my users think is important. With that motivation you don't sit around all day theorizing and rewriting your perfect little flawless gem and you get something out there that is always a little dirty, but continually meeting a need rather than sitting around fluffing someones ego. Their end product took quite a few iterations because they saw things they thought were better and started over so many times. You don't do that when you are solving problems for people, you can't just throw something away so you get dirty and you solve real problems. Sure, you're not going to win internet points on hacker news for the most pornographic code base, but you're actually helping someone with your code.
gaius 12y ago
The classic example was RMS cloning the features Symbolics created. It was possible because once you have figured out what to do, doing it is just code, that is the easy part.
ocb 12y ago
Haha, you have a good point, but 2048 is a terrible example because it's one of many clones of Threes. What you said applies very well to Threes, though.

toolz 12y ago

That's precisely my point, although reading back I did a terrible job at making my point. I'm not a quick awesome rockstar or w.e. - I just know the value of getting something into users hands fast and finding out what my users think is important. With that motivation you don't sit around all day theorizing and rewriting your perfect little flawless gem and you get something out there that is always a little dirty, but continually meeting a need rather than sitting around fluffing someones ego. Their end product took quite a few iterations because they saw things they thought were better and started over so many times. You don't do that when you are solving problems for people, you can't just throw something away so you get dirty and you solve real problems. Sure, you're not going to win internet points on hacker news for the most pornographic code base, but you're actually helping someone with your code.

gaius 12y ago

The classic example was RMS cloning the features Symbolics created. It was possible because once you have figured out what to do, doing it is just code, that is the easy part.

ocb 12y ago

Haha, you have a good point, but 2048 is a terrible example because it's one of many clones of Threes. What you said applies very well to Threes, though.