Rework Book Review | Tropophilia

The dream employee for a lot of companies is a twenty-something with as little of a life as possible outside of work–someone who’ll be fine working fourteen-hour days and sleeping under his desk. But packing a room full of these burn-the-midnight-oil types isn’t as great as it seems. [. . .] You don’t need more hours; you need better hours. When people have something to do at home, they get down to business. They get their work done because they have somewhere else to be. They find ways to be more efficient because they have to.

-Rework (affiliate link)

The 37 Signals team behind the project management software I and thousands of others use daily (Basecamp) published a new book laying out some of the principles behind their success. They call Rework a “by product” of their business; the equivalent of a cookbook written by a chef confident enough that their mastery will still trump any upstart competitors armed with detailed instructions. One of the ideas promoted in Rework, after all, is to strengthen and promote your business by teaching–customers, other business owners, even competitors:

[E]mulate famous chefs. They cook, so they write cookbooks. What do you do? What are your “recipes”? What’s your “cookbook”? What can you tell the world about how you operate that’s informative, educational, and promotional? This book is our cookbook.

And it’s full of direct, combative, written-with-purpose recipes for running an un-apologetically small but thriving business. The book is organized into a series of brief essays on a variety of work topics; read on for a few passages I found particularly compelling and a special video dialogue where Jarred and I discuss the book:

The easiest, most straightforward way to create a great product or service is to make something you want to use. [. . .] If you’re solving someone else’s problem, you’re constantly stabbing in the dark. When you solve your own problem, the light comes on. You know exactly what the right answer is.

Just as there’s a danger in trying to solve someone else’s problem, there’s a danger in thinking that the answer to your problem is the answer to everyone’s problem. This seems clearly, painfully true in the world of tech. Friendfeed probably solved a problem for its creator, but it never caught on because most people don’t consume countless online channels like Robert Scoble. The best products and services, it seems to me, address common pains that an innovator experiences personally.

Whenever you can, swap “Let’s think about it” for “Let’s decide on it.” Commit to making decisions. Don’t wait for the perfect solution. Decide and move forward. [. . . ] It doesn’t matter how much you plan, you’ll still get some stuff wrong anyway. Don’t make things worse by overanalyzing and delaying before you ever get going.

I can’t endorse this approach fervently enough. As the authors point out elsewhere in the book, decisions delayed often translate into languishing projects and vanishing motivation. In my experience, putting off a decision rarely leads to subsequent follow-through. More often, two weeks later you’re back in a meeting with the same people facing the same dilemma…with no new information or additional wisdom. Pull the trigger: decide, then change course if it doesn’t work.

Instead of trying to outspend, outsell, or outsponsor competitors, try to out-teach them. Teaching probably isn’t something your competitors are even thinking about. Most businesses focus on selling or servicing, but teaching never even occurs to them. [. . .] Teach and you’ll form a bond you just don’t get from traditional marketing tactics. Buying people’s attention with a magazine or online banner ad is one thing. Earning their loyalty by teaching them forms a whole different connection. They’ll trust you more. They’ll respect you more. Even if they don’t use your product, they can still be you fans.

I LOVE this notion, and it explains my affection toward 37 Signals and the authors of this book. I’ve read Signals vs. Noise, the 37 Signals blog, for years. Long before I started using Basecamp and Highrise. Why? Because it’s a corporate blog that’s interesting. Imagine that. They periodically post updates on 37 Signals products, which didn’t mean much to me before I became a customer, but they also offer–via the blog–a trusted perspective into the actions of other companies, developments in the tech industry, and content (quotes, photos, and the like) that’s just plain fascinating. Here‘s one of many pieces I’ve re-posted from Signals vs. Noise on my personal blog.

Teaching is underrated because it requires significant and genuine investment, often without an immediate return. Putting the time into creating an ebook on trends in your industry or a “how to” guide that could be used by your competitors doesn’t directly pay off the way sales calls might. But when done well, I think many consumers are eager to listen to a company willing to share expertise and teach. We’re all bombarded by so many marketing pitches every day; what if you learned something every time a company pitched its product or services? What if a company offered you valuable insights before you ever signed a contract or paid a dime? I’m really excited to try this concept out in my own work, and I’ll share my efforts when they come together.

We’re all capable of bad, average, and great work. The environment has a lot more to do with great work than most people realize. [. . .] [T]here’s a ton of untapped potential trapped under lame policies, poor direction, and stifling bureaucracies. Cut the crap and you’ll find that people are waiting to do great work. They just need to be given the chance. [. . .] Great environments show respect for the people who do the work and how they do it.

An environment where employees feel valued, respected, and trusted to take initiative really makes all the difference. Without falling into the common trap of making everything a generational commentary, this seems to be a key shift. Today’s younger workers are entering the workplace expecting to contribute ideas and find new ways to approach old problems. Companies and organizations that recognize this desire–and refuse to worry endlessly about the (probably minor) consequences of not approving everything from the executive suite–will be rewarded by employees who take pride in their work and exceed expectations.

Workaholics make the people who don’t stay late feel inadequate for “merely” working reasonable hours. That leads to guilt and poor morale all around. Plus, it leads to an ass-in-seat mentality–people stay late out of obligation, even if they aren’t really being productive. [. . .] Workaholics aren’t heroes. They don’t save the day, they just use it up. The real hero is already home because she figured out a faster way to get things done.

Nothing is more toxic, in my mind, than the “ass-in-seat mentality.” It not only demonstrates a lack of trust and respect toward your employees, it betrays more fundamental and serious issues in your workplace. Employees who take the fate of their company or organization seriously deliver, even if it means working at 2 in the morning after spending an afternoon in the park. Employees who know that they are valued simply for showing up during set hours will quickly lose motivation to go above and beyond.

I recommended Rework to Jarred, who devoured the book in less than 24 hours. Here’s a short diavlog we recorded about a few themes in the book (note: early in the video I carelessly forget one of the authors’ names. Apologies to David Heinemeier Hansson, who co-authored the book with Jason Fried): [Ed. Note: Apparently Wetoku, the service we used to record the video, mangled it somehow and it no longer displays...we're hoping this is temporary]

I would recommend Rework to nearly anyone. It represents a worldview that is sure to seem anathema to many “experienced” (read: “older”) business owners and managers, but in staking out one extreme it’s sure to cause any reader to examine their own productivity, work culture, and business (or organizational) values. We might not all want or need to function as 37 Signals clones, but I challenge anyone to read this book without discovering a nugget of wisdom or provocation to action that does not change some part of their approach to work.

In the video, Jarred and I obviously mention Rework, but Jarred also mentions Getting Things Done by David Allen and I speak about Small Giants by Bo Burlingham. All three books are highly recommended.