Rework
Highlights
Rework: Book Review
Do you own a business, or are you going to build one? I might have a book to help you. It is Rework by Jason Fried and David Hansson. Managing a business is hard. There are no specific rules. Something works sometimes, and other times it just doesn’t. Certain things form the foundation of your business, and you just can’t afford to miss it. It is the place where Rework comes in.
Rework is a remarkable book when it comes to managing your business. The title literally means rethinking all the conventional things and using them specific to our purpose and not what everyone follows. The simplicity with which the book is written is a bonus. You will not find irrelevant references or unwanted texts to suck out the juice. Rework questions the usual tendencies every owner follows and urges the reader to really think whether they are using the trends for their actual use or just following the herd mentality. Rework really helps in finding the right element for your business, and I must say, personally, it has made me change some of my usual approaches.
I am beginning to work on promoting the content and trying to bring better book reviews for my audience. Moreover, this book has provided some great insights which I never thought of before. I will add some notes at the end of the article on a few meaningful chapters, so do check them out for further knowledge. Now, coming back to the book review, there are many categories present in the book which covers various aspects of managing one’s business. I have found each section valuable. Moreover, the guidelines mentioned are practical. The experiences authors have shared about their journey provide motivation and the dedication to keep going forward.
I can’t claim the applicability of these rules to the full extent as I do not have a full-fledged business yet, but the rules surely help me at this stage, and I can only hope that I am able to use them to my benefit in the growth stage. Rework is among the great books on managing businesses efficiently I’ve read to date, next to No Rules Rules. I hope to read such unique books regularly and bring fantastic reviews.
Rework: Book Summary in 3 sentences
- Create a corporate system that supports your growth.
- Learn some crucial elements of running a successful business.
- Do things what you do best and work on delivering the products that get things done.
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Who Should Read It?
Business owners and entrepreneurs should read this book as it contains crucial information for modifying the business.
Top 3 Quotes
- What you do is what matters, not what you think or say or plan.
- “Workaholics aren’t heroes. They don’t save the day, they just use it up. The real hero is home because she figured out a faster way”
- “If circumstances change, your decisions can change. Decisions are temporary.”
I’ve compiled notes on some of the key topics in the book which can give you a better overview of the content you’re going to find in Rework.
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Rework Notes
1. Takedown 🏭
- Ignore people’s free advice.
- Say No To Workholism: Creates more problems than solution. Lacks Time Management.
- Start Making Something: Do not wait for the perfect moment. Begin immediately and do things that get’s you started.
- Draw A Line: Think about the objectives and mission. You wish to complete and work on it.
- Start a business, not a startup: Begin to Worry about profits.
2. Progress 🚧
- Embrace Constraints: Be creative with what you have. Think the best outcome that you can have with your resources.
- Ignore the details Early on: Unwanted resources wastage. Focus on the foundation. Everything Else comes with the flow.
- Focus on What Won’t change: Don’t chase the next big thing. Understand your business and how it can survive.
- Sell your by-products: There ought to be other products that are created in line with main products. Learn to sell them.
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3. Productivity ⌚
- Interruption is the enemy of productivity: Start having along time and no disturbance time. Prevent the urge to instant reply.
- Meetings: Meetings are mostly wastage of time. Somebody extends the meetings and it kills everybody’s time. Avoid meetings in conference rooms. Go at site and discuss the problem.
- Good enough is fine: Work on things that gets job done. The product should be good enough to tackle the problem.
- Quick Wins: Break your work into small tasks and complete them in order. Momentum fuels motivation and gets you going.
- Go To Sleep: Sacrificing sleep for work is never a good idea. It leads to burnout, stubbornness and lack of creativity.
4. Competitors 🥊
- Don’t Copy: Copying others’ work will not make you understand the process. You will always be behind and you would not have any clue on what things to do.
- Who cares what they are doing: Focusing on others wastes your time and maybe give birth to jealousy. Spend time on thinking on what can you do better.
5. Evolution 🤗
- Learn to say no: Do not spend time on things that do not provide full value to your time. Spend sufficient time to do your own work.
- Don’t confuse enthusiasm with priority: Great ideas creates excitement but it doesn’t mean you should always pursue them. Sometimes it acts as a medium of slowing down existing work. Discuss it efficiently with other members and then decide whether you have to go for it or not.
6. Promotion 📺
- Build audience: Create things, share things that your audience might like. Tell them what you’ve been upto. ( Similar idea can be found in the book of Show Your Work)
- Outteach your competition: Instead of outspending or outsponsor your competition, try to out teach your audience. Educate them on what you know best.
- Nobody likes plastic flowers: Don’t be afraid to show your flaws. Imperfection are real. Embrace the faults. Show the latest version of what you are working on, even if you’re not done yet.
- Myth of the overnight sensation: Early big hit is difficult and not long lasting. Start building your audience.
7. Hiring 🧑🤝🧑
- Do it yourself first: Understand the importance of roles and how it affects you. Learn the inside out of the job as it helps in better control over your division.
- Hire when it hurts: Hire not for pleasure, but when the quality of work begins to suffer due to extra load.
- Forget about formal education: Does more harm than good. You have to unlearn many things which is not used in real life.
8. Damage Control ❌
- Own up to your mistakes: Be frank with your audience. Reduce chances of rumours and fake news by other individual. Builds loyalty.
- Put everyone on the front line: The back end worker should be aware about the feedback. The more people involved in feedback transmission more the chances of it to get distorted.
9. Culture 🐉
- Skip the rock stars: Work on making your environment more energetic. Think about the room. Reduce the policies that create a lag in doing the efforts. Uncover the maximum potential.
- They’re not 13: Unwanted policies creates useless environment. It creates a lack of fresh ideas and forces the employees to seek approvals for every step. Check out book review of No Rules Rules.
- Don’t scar the first cut: Do not go after making policies, when somebody breaks a rule. It creates unwanted and futile headaches.
Suggested Readings
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