"Rework"
These are the main ideas I took from this book written by Jason Fried and David Hansson.
I've only ever heard one person recommend this book. But because that one person is who he is, I had to read this book. The person in question is the billionaire owner of NBA team Dallas Mavericks. If you can’t quite place him yet, you might know him from the hit show Shark Tank, his name is Mark Cuban.
He famously said once, “If given a choice between investing in somebody who has read Rework or has an MBA, I'm investing in Rework every time.” This could well be an exaggeration, but you understand the value he puts on this book. So let’s look at the ideas we can take out of it. (While this book is geared at entrepreneurs, all of us can pick off of most of the ideas)
Learning from mistakes is overrated. The only thing you know from a mistake is what not to do. Instead, find out what the way to success looks like in your chosen field and copy it. You simply have to do it again and again and again.
Planning is guessing. Nobody has any idea of what the future looks like. So when you make a plan for a year into the future, all you have is a list of guesses. Now this is not to say you should just do things randomly. The main point to understand here is that you need to have an open mind and the ability to improvise as you get more information and things go along.
Don’t run after crazy growth. You must have seen, especially in the current environment, companies are firing the part of a workforce that they may deem unnecessary to the company’s survival. So when building a company, focus on growing as required, not just expanding for the sake of it.
Workaholism is stupid. Simply throwing extra hours at a problem doesn’t guarantee it is being solved. But it does generally lead to inelegant and lazy work, along with making the efficient workers feel bad. A culture of workaholism just leads to a decrease in productivity all around.
Build for yourself. Create things you yourself need. When you do this, you can figure out the pros and cons of the product on your own.
Action trumps planning. An idea is useless if not acted upon by you. Hundreds of people could have a different version of the same idea, what matters is who executes the best.
No time cannot be an excuse. Elon Musk was once quoted as saying, “When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favour.”. So you need to make time for what you actually want, it can’t be left to the whims of your comfort level.
Start a business, not a startup. “We’ll figure out how to profit in the future” is a ridiculous attitude to have. Start with the goal of being profitable while providing value to customers so you don’t have to sacrifice one for the other at any point in the future too.
Less is a good thing. Constraints are a blessing in disguise. Limited resources force your team to get creative and find solutions with whatever they can.
Start at the epicentre. You have three types of problems you have to tackle. Problems you could solve, problems you want to solve and problems you absolutely have to solve. Start with the problems you have to solve. Everything else will depend on this foundation.
Decisions lead to progress. Avoid putting off decisions. They pile up if you do so and will pose a much bigger problem later on. You can’t wait for the perfect solution every time.
Meetings are toxic. Unnecessary meetings to be precise. Meetings that run for longer than required, have more people than required, without defined agendas or problems and those that don’t end with a solution should be avoided. They are a waste of everyone’s time.
Don’t copy. Or rather don’t copy-paste something, especially without understanding how it works.
Say no by default. It’s easy to say yes. And we often have to regret that decision. But you seldom regret saying no. Meaning you don’t need to cater to everyone’s whims. Cater only to the problems of the many instead of the few.
Don’t confuse enthusiasm with priority. We generally have ideas left and right. We don’t need to act on each one immediately. Let the idea cool off for some time in your head and think it through, and if it still seems like something you should pursue, by all means, you should go forward.
Welcome obscurity. When you’re small, you have the license to go out there and test stuff, tweak things and get better. No one knows you so it’s no big deal when you mess up.
Teach your audience. Most companies focus on selling and servicing only. When you teach your audience about the product, they trust you more and hence are more susceptible to return to you.
Emulate drug dealers. Make your product do the talking. Your customers should flock to you, instead of you chasing them.
The myth named Overnight Sensation. Face it, nobody gets to be a big hit suddenly. Success is a result of small wins stacked over a lot of time. You have to be patient and you have to grind it out.
Before hiring, do it yourself first. When you know the work required, you know the kind of person that the job requires, if any. You’ll also be a much better manager since you know what you should and shouldn’t expect.
When hiring, experience is irrelevant, if they can’t show how well they did the job during those years.
Hire managers of one. People who can manage themselves and execute on their goals are much better for the company and its clients.
Hire great writers. Doesn’t matter what role you’re looking for, when there is competition, you can look at their writing skills for differentiation. Great writing is the result of clear thinking.
Own the bad news. It’s better if the bad news reaches around by your own hand, instead of people hearing rumblings from here and there. This prevents misinformation. A good apology means accepting responsibility for whatever has happened and a real promise to make things right.
Speed is important. Get back to people quickly. Customers want quick resolutions since they have paid money to avail of your services. Responding quickly defuses the situation until you can properly solve their problems.
Don’t treat employees like children. If they have to ask permission for everything, trust never develops in the team and such an environment can never be optimal.
Stop saying ASAP. Most of the work needs to be done soon. Saying ASAP before some requests devaluates the ones where you don’t say ASAP.
Okay we’re done. If you got through to the end, I hope you got to learn something. If you’re further interested in the topics raised in the article, you should read the book. There is a plethora of more such ideas in it.
Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. And do let me know if you want a specific topic covered!
P.S. You can read all my articles here.