David Heinemeyer Hansson (Basecamp, ReWork, Ruby on Rails) on how it works

There are many interesting people in the world and one of them is David Heinemeyer Hansson (DHH), creator of Ruby on Rails, CTO Basecamp, author of many best-selling books, including ReWork and Remote. At some point in time, I came across everything - client projects were carried out in Basecamp, I wrote in Ruby on Rails and read ReWork excitedly for the day. The obvious question is how does he manage to do everything? In addition, he still manages to keep up with racing sports!

More recently, just before quarantine, I read the book Deep Work, which mentioned DHH, Karl Jung, Donald Knuth, and many other people who use different methods of time management for concentration and creation.

How does DHH manage its time? I bring the translation of the interviewfrom 2017 on the organization of its work. I hope the translation will be especially useful for Habr’s readers during quarantine.



Location: at the moment - Malibu, California.
But I also spend time in Marbella, in Spain and in Chicago.
Current lesson: CTO @ Basecamp.
Describe in one word how you work: Effectively.
Current mobile device: iPhone X
Current computer: iMac 27 "+ MacBook 12"

First, tell us about your experience and how you got to this?

I got my first computer when I was 6 years old and I was definitely not a computer genius. I tried to learn how to program several times, but to no avail. All that worked was to simply retype the game code from the magazine. But basically, I just played toys on the computer.

Then, as a teenager, I launched a warez called Electronic Confusion to crack software under Amiga. I had to learn everything about modems, phone cards and face the world of cracks and software trade. Memories come up about my small bedroom, filled with the light of a US Robotics modem and a dude from Holland who dials into my modem.

Thanks to this story with Amiga, I made friends with many programmers. They all worked with Assembler or C to make demos or games, and I watched their work. I convinced myself that this profession is not for me. Arithmetic of pointers and vector calculations did not exactly combine with my idea of ​​pleasure and fan.

Then the Internet became an everyday thing. I also liked toys and created several sites for reviewing games. In high school, I created a magazine with reviews of console games called konsollen.dk, in which there were 10 freelance writers and we had thousands of readers. We could not afford to buy all the games for reviews, and distributors did not take seriously 16-year-old youngsters asking for free games. But so I made friends with the manager at the local computer games store in Copenhagen and he borrowed me new games for a week.

This led to the creation of quake3.dk, a resource that I have maintained for several years. And then, finally, I created dailyrush.dk, which reviewed both console and PC games. It was a real startup, created in an incubator. Without a business plan. Financing. Job. It was in 2000-2001.

Work on all these projects made me learn PHP. Not because I wanted to become a programmer, but because I needed features for my site. Then, in 2001, I wrote an email to Jason Freed from 37signals (now the CEO of Basecamp, approx. Per.) When he asked a PHP question on his blog. And instead of learning programming himself, he decided to just hire me.

This is where the story began that led to Basecamp, Ruby on Rails, and to where we are right now. So many years later!

Tell us about your working day.

It depends on where I am. In Malibu, I wake up at 7:45, then take my eldest son to a preschool and begin work at about 9:30.

In the morning, I slowly think, because I understand the incoming tasks. I rake all kinds of requests, mail, request pool, messages in messengers and all that. I sort it out, call back and then, if I'm lucky, get to work at noon or so

The work varies greatly. Some days I am only busy writing. Jason and I are currently writing a book called The Calm Company (it seems like it came out under the title It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work or Don't Go Crazy at Work - approx. Per.). But if it's not a book, it can often be a blog post. Or ideas for discussion. Or ideas for Basecamp. There is a lot of writing in my work.

The other day it is only programming. This could be the development of a new concept for Basecamp. Or it could be code extraction to include it in Ruby on Rails. Whatever it is is exciting! I love to program.

But on other days, it could be setting up processes or running a company of 56 people in Basecamp. In our company there are not many positions. No CFO and COO. There are no dedicated managers. We only have the necessary number of personnel, which allows the company to exist and grow. I try to solve all problems with the minimum required effort in order to quickly return to writing and programming. This usually leads to a better result. Less bureaucracy, endless rallies and other things that take up a lot of time.

Applications, gadgets or tools you can't live without?

All my favorite software is about working with text.

I helped Allan polish TextMateback in 2003, and since then - this is my favorite text editor for coding. You cannot tear me from him.

But I also like iA Writer . Most of my prose I write there. It is simple, beautiful, and nothing distracts me from writing the text.

This is also OS X / iOS Notes. There I gather all these ideas for new blog posts, notes for books, conversations and all that.

I still love photography. My favorite combo is the Leica M camera and 50mm Summilux lenses, and then the photos are processed using Adobe Lightroom and VSCO presets. I took photos of so many priceless memorable moments with this combination. Especially after I became a father. Children are a great motivation for developing photography skills.

Finally, I love mechanical watches. All types of watches, but my particular weakness for vintage Rolex Daytonas. Watching mechanical watches that have been going on for over 40 years is a great reminder of the long-lasting. About the structure of simple things that exist for a long time. Caring for them. Help them in overcoming the distance of time (something that started to talk about the eternal and I got confused - approx. Per.).

What does your workplace look like?

Pretty loose. My office is just a big white desk, a 27 "iMac on it, a HiRise iPhone stand and a bottle of water. Yes, I heard a lot of nonsense that a cleaned desktop is a sign of a brilliant mind. But I like it when everything is simple neatly. The mess doesn't calm. Calms the way I click. What life hacks

do you have to save time?

Say no. I am always surprised at the volume of obligations that people manage to entangle themselves with. I say no to almost everything. Then I can invest in those things that I really choose to do myself.

I often get questions about how I am able to drive Basecamp, program Ruby on Rails, write books, drive race cars and do my own photography. This is always a bit of a confusing question, because these are just those things that you can fill your life with if you give up other unnecessary things.

How do you keep track of what you need to do?

In fact, I do not. I try not to have a backlog. I try to just clean my tasks. Most emails can be answered briefly right away (if I really decided to answer them). For most people, the inbox is full because they don’t immediately understand the letters, hesitate, and this makes them worry even more. Just call, say no and move on.

The only thing I'm watching is for things that are beyond my control. For example, we just finished building a house. I needed to have a system where I would keep all the suppliers, all kinds of lists and all that. Basecamp is perfect for this!

How do you recharge? What do you do when you want to forget about work?

I love the job. Work is basically writing code and text. Two of my favorite activities in life. So I don’t have to “forget” about work.

But I need a recharge. A great day is 4-5 hours of focused hours that lead to major progress in a project or task. And that’s all. I noticed that squeezing a lemon to the last drop is a rather "sour" way of doing things in our life.

In general, I drive a car around the world in the World Endurance Championship. I love the feeling of absolute focus and the flow into which I dive while driving. I admire speed, overloads with a smack of danger. It cleans the brain for sure!

I am also a passionate photographer. It's so cool to catch that perfect moment. Just the right composition in the right light and we get the right colors and expressions.

Finally, I love traveling with my family. Well, ok, maybe not the travel process itself (I don’t know how many people enjoy air travel with children), but that part is with the experience gained. Exploring the world with your wife and children is really cool.

But of course, sometimes it can be just sticking in the series or Instu.

What is your favorite third-party project?

Is Ruby on Rails considered a third-party project? I think yes. Because - Ruby on Rails.

What are you reading now or what could you recommend?

Now I'm reading Debt: The First 5,000 Years. (Debt: The first 5,000 years of history). An entertaining story of money, debt, barter, slavery, morality and the relationship between them.

The best advice you got?

Amor Fati.

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Note trans. Thank you for the attention. In some places I’m self-willed to convey the context, but I can, - I'm not a translator :)