I just finished reading “Rework”. Brought to you by the guys at 37 Signals, this book was great. Not because it was groundbreaking – but because it was a summary of many lessons I already use everyday assembled into one handy reference. Of course, they were articulated better than I probably could.
“Rework” is a phenomenal guide for the modern business aficionado (I won’t use “entrepreneur” because the authors don’t approve of the term – they prefer “starters”). Though the authors develop products for the online world, the principles here can be applied across other industries as well. This isn’t for old-school types, nor for those who aren’t interested in changing how “work” works. If you think you are interested in this type of thing, then go get the book. If you need convincing, here are a few ideas from the book and my comments:
Workaholics – You know, the guy who comes in at 8am and leaves at 9pm? ”Rework” shows you how not only is this a waste, but in reality, these people often cause more issues than they solve. They waste too many hours on problems that can be solved relatively quickly. In the new world, the economy is task-based. Workaholics should learn to work faster and in a more agile way, or else they will be made obsolete. The value of a worker isn’t the empty hours spent at a desk but by the accomplishments generated.
Get to Work – The authors are big proponents of less talk, more action. And this is the way it should be. I started my first website less than an hour after I had the idea, and in a week I had the first version working. I taught myself PHP to accomplish that, and this was before WordPress, Drupal, or any of those bogus ‘frameworks’ were out there. I spent more Friday and Saturday nights working than perhaps was advisable at the young age of 21, but the site gathered thousands of users in my first year and I had my first taste of running a community online. This was ten years ago. If you have an idea, start on it and start fast.
Stay Agile – “Rework” stands by the notion that a small business can remain small and agile by avoiding roadblocks: Excess staff, meetings, permanent decisions, office politics, etc. What a great thought! How many of us feel we are held back by bogus policies or politics of self preservation in the workplace?
Less is More - This is really telling, especially coming from the company that brought us Basecamp… If you use their products, you see that there are some specific features that are missing – but they are missing on purpose. ”Rework” encourages you to compete with less, that more isn’t always better. And if you build it smaller, build it better. Offer less options to solve the same problem. Be smarter and more manageable, and you’ll win the customer.
Gear DOESNT MATTER – This one is HUGE. I know of people who need the new toy, new service, new whatever to accomplish a task. I was working on a project recently and tried a new prototyping system to build out some wireframes. After the hassle that I went through, I’m back to my original method that I’ve used for over 10 years… Sharpie + paper. ”Rework” makes a great point by reminding us that often times the search for and use of all these tools is in fact just a distraction from actually working and solving problems. Now, this doesn’t mean you can’t be a gadget guy. Just don’t let any tools get in the way of the end result. And for the love of god, if something works well, don’t find a replacement for it.
Launch Now – Another thing I’ve been a proponent of for years. Launching and shipping your product is essential. You can fight the fires after you launch and in most cases, the pressure will be beneficial to the project resulting in better fixes, faster. Too often people work on projects quickly, and when there is only 5% of a project left, it takes longer than the previous 95%! And even more frustrating is that at that point, there aren’t any users who can even tell what the issues are anyway.
Meetings are Toxic - I’ll take it even further… The phone is toxic too. 9 in 10 phone calls could be prevented with a well posed email. ”Rework” makes an interesting point – meetings produce less information per minute than almost any other system. And, they are a waste of man hours. If you have 10 people in a meeting that lasts for 4 hours, that is 40 hours of productivity down the drain. If you have to have a meeting, solve a limited amount of problems and make sure start and end times well defined.
I remember at a previous job that we had a compulsory staff meeting every week on Monday mornings, whether we needed it or not. It would have 6 people and last 2 or 3 hours, depending on the week. Sometimes more. That meant that in any given week, we lost on average 15 man hours. Over the course of the year that means 780 hours of work, gone forever. That is 6.5% of the work year. Tell your boss that there is a 6.5% tax on his workforce and see how he responds… On a similar note, how about the unintended consequences of bogus meetings? Everyone worked for the meeting. Meaning, they worked like crazy on Friday afternoons so on Monday, they had something to show for the week. Regardless of if the work had any value or long term gain for the business.
Pick a Fight – This is important… “Rework” tells you how important it is to pick a target to go after. Become an alternative to another product, become a cure to the problems with that product. AT&T’s 3G network sucks in certain places – Verizon is quick to point that out. Toyota’s gas pedals get stuck – GM has a promotion to Toyota customers. And it goes on and on. Take a position and live it!
Underdo the Competition – Again, less is more. The great example of the Flip camera versus a traditional camcorder is pointed to here. The Flip’s ease of use, low cost of entry and tiny footprint has changed home video forever – despite a lack of features.
GPA’s Don’t Matter, Resumes Suck, Location Doesn’t Matter & More New Economy Tidbits – I can’t sum up the entire book. Go buy it. But the lessons here are priceless. Someday, I’m going to write my own book and title it “Everything You Thought You Knew Was Wrong” – because for the majority of us, it is! The mantra for my generation was to get good grades, go to a good school, take out a large loan (hell, you’ll be making so much you can pay it back anyway), and then get a job with a large company. This was what they taught us when we were graduating high school in the mid-90′s. Today, its ALL BULLSHIT! People leave college underskilled, over-educated and highly in debt. They work in cubicles for large companies where they are numbers on a list, and then, 45 years later, freedom at last. No thanks.
Read the book, learn the lessons, and get to (re)work.
