The GC Story

Software is communication, and communication is broken.

Software is communication.

I'm sure many people, especially software developers, rolled their eyes as they read that. “We spend so much time communicating I don’t have time to get my ‘real work’ done…”

But what if I told you that “software is mostly communication” isn’t an original, controversial thought I can take credit for, but rather lifted from Fred Brooks in what’s widely considered the most important book about software development of all time, The Mythical Man-Month?

In it, Brooks argues that communication is the antidote to complexity; That without proper communication projects are constantly at serious risk. When you think of it, most common issues that derail projects - unclear requirements, scope creep, change management - are actually communication issues at their core. And while Brooks wrote this 49 years ago in 1975, his point has only become more poignant with age.

Today, we live in a renaissance of apps. Not too long ago most knowledge workers could get by using three simple Microsoft Office tools. But now we have hundreds if not thousands of apps to choose from. As individuals specialize, each specialist now brings with them their own specialized tools. So when we come together to work on projects, the average knowledge worker finds themselves juggling 8+ apps on any given day, constantly jumping between the tools where they do their work and the tools where their teammates do theirs, trying to make sense of the fragmented mess.

Part of me wishes we could go back to the way it was. As bad as Brooks said it was in 1975, it certainly isn’t as bad as it is today. Maybe we’d benefit from having “one app to rule them all” or at least a teeny, tiny handful of apps to us.

But that ignores how absolutely incredible all these new specialized apps are! We used to make do with Microsoft Word but now we organize in Notion, design in Figma, streamline in Linear, write in Google Docs, visualize in Trello, coordinate in Asana, analyze in Airtable… The list goes on and on, each app empowering the specialists that use them to do their very best work.

What we need isn’t a return to the dark ages with “one app to rule them all”, but rather new ways to communicate and collaborate across all those apps. A ‘meta-collaboration layer’ that isn’t quite a stand-alone app itself but rather lives inside and across all the apps we and our teammates use. That takes the fragmented documents that make up projects, breaks them free of the siloed apps they are trapped in, and allows us to communicate and collaborate across them without borders. And, most importantly, enables individuals to use whatever tools they believe they individually work best in.

With a ‘meta-collaboration layer’ like this, everyone shares in each other's work and everyone has a seat at the table. It's about creating a transparent and efficient process that fosters clarity, builds trust, and allows for better teamwork — whether a designer envisioning the user interface, a developer implementing complex algorithms, or a stakeholder defining business requirements — all can follow along, contribute, and stay aligned throughout the project.

In a world where agile methodologies and rapid iteration are the norm, a ‘meta-collaboration layer’ like will allow us to even more quickly convey ideas, gather feedback, and make decisions can mean the difference between a product that delights users and finds success and one that falls flat and fails. We need those well-time questions, clarifying explanations, and inspiring brainstorm sessions.

Brooks was right, “Software is collaboration.” Creating software is so much more than just writing code, but rather a deeply collaborative and communicative art. So at General Collaboration we’re on a mission to help software builders better communicate, and we launched the v1 of our ‘meta-collaboration layer’ last week. Try it out at www.generalcollaboration.com.