I was having lunch today with some editors of a local weekly. After listening to them talk about what they do I realized that we do it too. We’re editors.
They edit articles, we edit software.
We prune it. We clip off the extra features like they clip off the extra words. We trim the interface like they trim a sentence. We chop products in half like they ask for 5000 words instead of 10,000.
The editing process is what makes a great product. Editing the feature list, editing customer requests, editing the interface, editing the code, editing the marketing, editing the copywriting. It’s not about designing or writing or coding, it’s about trimming those weeds back before they ruin the lawn.
So keep that in mind when you write, design, code, or promote. Good editors build great software.
37signals wrote this on May 27 2011 There are 5 comments.
James Pierce 27 May 11
Chris Aitchison has written a great piece on this very theme – Software Engineers vs Software Gardeners
Masta 27 May 11
Not sure why people invariably equate editing with removing, pruning, chopping off, getting rid of. I worked with editors who often asked me to add more stuff, etc.
Mark 28 May 11
+1 for Masta
At its very basic premise, an editor’s job (in the context of how you outline it in your post) is to ensure that copy “says what it means” and stays relevant to the story.
Likewise, as a software designer, your job is to ensure that the solution you create is relevant and appropriate to the task you designed it for.
Sometimes that means you need to add stuff.
pëll 28 May 11
The difference might be than an article is mostly done when it’s edited. Software often is still in production, never really gets to the point of being “finished”.
Hamid 31 May 11
I like SVN flashbacks, because I wasn’t familiar with SVN before, so missed last posts.
This discussion is closed.