Jason Fried - CEO of Basecamp - airfocus Product Hero

Who is Jason Fried?

Jason Fried is a software entrepreneur and product thinker. He loves to challenge standard-practice concepts with novel ideas about collaboration, productivity, and the very nature of our work. 

Jason has helped others embrace his work-approach through productivity tools such as Basecamp, Highrise, Campfire, and Writeboard. Each of these platforms was built by his company, 37signals (now known as Basecamp).

The Chicago-based business is, in itself, an innovative brand, claiming to "do less than the competition — intentionally." 

In addition to championing innovative work approaches and products, Jason is also involved in writing, coaching, and conference speaking. In fact, he co-authored the book ReWork, with David Heinemeier Hansson, and gave a well-received talk at TED on Why work doesn't happen at work.

What is Jason Fried known for?

Jason Fried is a productivity master. He’s earned a reputation for promoting and maximizing quality work time through more meaningful, proactive communication among teams. 

He believes that all companies could benefit from eliminating superfluous activities, like unnecessary meetings (we’ve all been there!). Instead, he advocates for more meaningful, considered, and digestible forms of communication. In his words? "We use Basecamp. We don’t have meetings".

It’s clear how Jason’s work philosophy inspired his series of successful web-based collaboration tools. Among them, the best known is Basecamp (as Jason mentions above) — a project management app that streamlines communication among teams. 

A lot of people in the industry know Jason Fried from his Get Real column in the Inc. magazine, or from his 2010 book ReWork, which became a New York Times bestseller. 

What is Jason Fried's approach to office work?

As he explained in his 2010 TED talk, Jason Fried believes that real work doesn't happen in the workplace. After years of researching the subject, Jason found out that people usually do their best work when they're not at the office.  

Why? Because the office is filled with distraction. This leads to employees trading their workday for a series of working moments. The constant interruptions cause them to produce a smaller amount of quality work than they would do working from home, from a library, or even during their commute.

Ultimately, Jason is convinced that the most efficient approach to meaningful work includes long stretches of uninterrupted time. And these can't be found in an office.

Keep up to date with Jason by following him on Twitter.