It might sound strange to have a philosophy around project management software. But when we started out, we really did write down several guiding principles, even quotes from Steve Jobs and Jony Ive.
If there was one overarching philosophy, though, it absolutely was that Shinto would have to offer vastly more back to a user than the user was putting into Shinto.
We equated much of the software out there with ethanol, the corn-based auto fuel: it takes more energy to create ethanol than we get back from it. So Shinto would have to require as absolutely little user actions as possible to give clear, valuable information back.
“Shinto would have to offer vastly more back to a user than the user was putting into Shinto.”
Dave Greene, Founder of Shinto
Otherwise Shinto would work like so many other project management systems, which end up not getting used as designed, because the users eventually realize they are sitting and clicking all day, literally feeding the tool, and what they are getting back doesn’t offset their effort.
We actually attempted to eliminate the need for a keyboard to use Shinto, and to tell the truth we’ve come close.