"LeadsOnRails Reviews" by smeade

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 00:56:00 EDT

Reviews for our small business lead management product, LeadsOnRails.com, are starting to come in. A new one today is not about the product, but rather about the product’s website. Bob Walsh, the man who wrote the book on micro-ISVs and blogging, and the author of this review, of the LeadsOnRails product site, made an important point that I want to make sure us Rails programmers get.

Bob says: LeadsOnRails could have derailed (sorry) at this point by doing a laundry list of features, leading with the ultra sexy (to programmers), ultra cool (to programmers), fact it’s in Ruby on Rails; that it’s not a Web 1.0 app, but a Web 2.0 app (only programmers understand this), that it’s driven with clean URLs (I barely understand this), etc., etc., etc.

They did no such thing. They understand that while these features appeal to programmers, benefits – especially benefits couched in terms of what small business owners care about – was the way to go.

If we want to see Rails’ adoption rate grow, we need to be explaining why it and development methods associated with it (agile, rapid, test-driven, etc.) are good for business. Not just why it’s kewl.

Rails Blog comments on LeadsOnRails Reviews

"LeadsOnRails Reviews" by smeade