“Rework” is a book written by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, the founders of Basecamp. The book offers a different perspective on work and business, providing practical tips and real-life examples on how to improve productivity, efficiency, and success.
It covers a wide range of topics such as keeping things simple, embracing constraints, learning to say no, working smarter instead of harder, embracing failure, focusing on customers and embracing change. Written in a conversational tone, it’s a quick read and a great resource for entrepreneurs, small business owners and anyone looking to improve their work and business practices.
This Makes My Life Better
- You want your customers to say, “This makes my life better.” You want to feel that if you stopped doing what you do, people would notice.
- If you’re going to do something, do something that matters.
- The easiest, most straightforward way to create a great product or service is to make something you want to use.
- The most important thing is to begin.
Burn The Boats
A business without a path to profit isn’t a business, it’s a hobby.
You need a commitment strategy, not an exit strategy.
Lots of things get better as they get shorter.
Nail the basics first and worry about the specifics later.
You often can’t recognize the details that matter most until after you start building.
Test-drive employees
Hire them for a mini project, even if it’s for just twenty or forty hours. You’ll see how they make decisions. You’ll see if you get along. You’ll see what kind of questions they ask. You’ll get to judge them by their actions instead of just their words.
If I’d listened to customers, I’d have given them a faster horse.
No Excuses
Don’t let yourself off the hook with excuses. It’s entirely your responsibility to make your dreams come true.
Besides, the perfect time never arrives.
As you get going, keep in mind why you’re doing what you’re doing.
Great businesses have a point of view, not just a product or service.
Design them to be simple.
Avoid Outside Funding
Service businesses (e.g., consultants, software companies, wedding planners, graphic designers, and hundreds of others) don’t require much to get going. If you’re running a business like that, avoid outside funding.
You need less than you think.
Great companies start in garages all the time. Yours can too.
Start a business, not a startup.
Enough with “entrepreneurs”
Everyone should be encouraged to start his own business, not just some rare breed that self-identifies as entrepreneurs.
Instead of entrepreneurs, let’s just call them starters.
You don’t need an MBA, a certificate, a fancy suit, a briefcase, or an above-average tolerance for risk. You just need an idea, a touch of confidence, and a push to get started.
What is the Real World?
“That would never work in the real world.”— Don’t believe them!
They expect fresh concepts to fail. They assume society isn’t ready for or capable of change. Even worse, they want to drag others down into their tomb.
If you’re hopeful and ambitious, they’ll try to convince you your ideas are impossible. They’ll say you’re wasting your time. Don’t believe them.
The real world isn’t a place, it’s an excuse. It’s a justification for not trying. It has nothing to do with you.
Own your bad news
- When something bad happens, tell your customers (even if they never noticed in the first place).
- People will respect you more if you are open, honest, public, and responsive during a crisis.
- A good apology accepts responsibility.
- Take a deep breath.
- People are creatures of habit. That’s why they react to change in such a negative way.
Solve your own problem
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.
Best of all, this “solve your own problem” approach lets you fall in love with what you’re making.
What you do is what matters, not what you think, say or plan.
We had the itch, so we scratched it.
Show Your Flaws
- Don’t be afraid of sharing.
- Go behind the scenes.
- Nobody likes plastic flowers.
- Don’t be afraid to show your flaws.
- Press releases are spam.
- You want an easily digestible introduction to what you sell.
- Marketing is not a department.
- How long someone’s been doing it is overrated. What matters is how well they’ve been doing it.
- Forget about formal education.
- Hire great writers.
Be A Curator
- You don’t have to live with a decision forever. If you make a mistake, you can correct it later.
- A curator is involved, making conscious decisions about what should stay and what should go. There’s an editing process.
- It’s the stuff you leave out that matters.
- Be a curator. Stick to what’s truly essential.
Planning is guessing
- There are just too many factors that are out of your hands: market conditions, competitors, customers, the economy, etc. Writing a plan makes you feel in control of things you can’t actually control.
- If you write a big plan, you’ll most likely never look at it anyway.
- Decide what you’re going to do this week, not this year.
- Premature hiring is the death of many companies.
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.
Necessities Now, Luxuries Later
Don’t hold everything else up because of a few leftovers. You can do them later.
Build the necessities now, worry about the luxuries later.
Meetings are toxic
Judo solutions are all about getting the most out of doing the least.
Problems can usually be solved with simple, mundane solutions.
Remember, you can usually turn good enough into great later.
Launch now
- Once your product does what it needs to do, get it out there.
- The quicker it’s in the hands of customers, the better off you’ll be.
- If you already spent too much time on something that wasn’t worth it, walk away.
- Your estimates suck.
- Break the big thing into smaller things.
- Start making smaller to-do lists too. Long lists collect dust.
- Make tiny decisions.
Say No!
- When you make tiny decisions, you can’t make big mistakes.
- Say no by default.
- Don’t confuse enthusiasm with priority.
- Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking. Great writers know how to communicate.
Four Letter Words
There are four-letter words you should never use in business. They’re not f*ck or sh*t.
They’re need, must, can’t, easy, just, only, and fast.
Stop saying ASAP.
If you want to do something, you’ve got to do it now. You can’t put it on a shelf and wait two months to get around to it. You can’t just say you’ll do it.
