Customer Reviews

The Trousers of Reality - Volume One: Working Life

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book made me open up the windows in my head to let in some fresh air on daily activities I thought I knew well - planning, communicating, prioritising - helping to blow away the accumulated cruft, leaving the essential lessons bare and showing mew ways to grow and improve.

The style is personal and engaging, drawing on the authors experience of coaching and software development and centuries of work from thinkers around the world to reveal a deeper perspective on the reasons that projects succeed and fail.

Looking forward to volume II.

"What a wonderful book. So easy to read, the information just flows. I laughed out loud with the connections it made for me and I had a wonderful time with the ideas and associations it sparked off!"

Drawing on diverse disciplines, and historical and scientific fact and metaphor, Mr. Evans delivers a message of innovation, thoughtful analysis and "out of the box" thinking in his entertaining Trousers of Reality Volume One: Working Life. Software development and project management provide the context for the author's main tenets and themes, but Mr. Evans' approach will speak to managers, team leaders and team members in a variety of fields. He leads the reader through basic constructs for understanding the work environment, and proposes "nexus based decision making" as a guide to successful project outcomes. This is not a cookbook, but rather a book about opening your mind to the essential ingredients for successful work life.

I bought this book about a year ago on recommendation from a friend, who thought I'd find it useful.

He was right. I did, but it wasn't what I expected. The book is throws out ideas and concepts with every paragraph. Sometimes they flow wonderfully well, other times you are left struggling to catch up with the author. Some of the ideas you will probably profoundly disagree with, but even those will stretch your thinking. The book is an intellectual read that borders on the subversive at times. It will challenge your thinking, and for that it is very worthwhile.

If you are a skim-reader, you'll hate the book because you just won't take it in. Read it slowly and carefully, and it will be a revelation.

Don't expect to get everything on your first read. Read it once and then going back in six months and read it again. That is what I have done and I picked it up again this morning to read through it for a third time.

If you are like me, you would probably be thrown off by the quirky title. A bit of explanation is probably in order. The author's brother once got lost on a road trip. When he finally arrived at his intended destination and was able to examine a map, he saw where he had gone wrong. His observation, "I went down the wrong leg of the trousers". He took a wrong turn and therefore went down the wrong road.

Since that time, Barry Evans says he has always views all decisions as a matter of determining which path to follow - which leg of the trousers to take. This book is all about determining the correct path - about the tools for making the right choices in work and life.

As Barry says, "All problems are solvable as long as you are prepared to change your perspective and challenge your assumptions and the assumptions of all those around you."

Said differently, we get into trouble with our choices and decisions by adhering to a rigid perspective, by following assumptions that are not valid.

This book is a bit unconventional but contains a world of wisdom. Evans refers to and cites a wide variety of authors - from Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett to Shakespeare, Einstein, Ben Franklin, Lao-Tzu and many others. There is a strong influence of NLP - Neuro Linguistic Programming - developed by Richard Bandler and John Grinder.

Evans is a programmer by profession and he uses lots of references to programming to develop and illustrate the points he wishes to make.

Here is a valuable paragraph from the book. "Throughout history there is a great deal of evidence that the willingness to die for ones beliefs is considered a virtue. I would content that the ability to let go of your beliefs is the real virtue. The ability to change with the context is the harder and ultimately, more rewarding thing to do." Barry is constantly advising us to change with the context. To let go of our long held beliefs. To make sure we are looking for the reality instead of what we want reality to be.

In this book Evans indicates that this is the first of a four volume series. This book would lay the foundation for the other four. He explores the knowledge and wisdom from early history to present day, searching for principles that work. He then gives us the tools to take and apply those principles to our own work and lives.

In his own words, "This book will not teach you to think outside the box. It will make you question the existence of boxes."

There is a lot of knowledge to absorb in this book. Do not expect to gain all the important lessons in one quick reading. In my opinion, the value of this book will only be obtained by studying, contemplating and internalizing the concepts and ideas contained in the book. It will take some time. If you are looking for sound bites, this is not the book. If you are looking for some profound wisdom, some new ways to approach problems, then this should be a very valuable resource.

If you learn to question the existence of boxes, if you learn to adopt new perspectives you will open up new ways to solve problems, to find The Trousers of Reality.

I've known Barry Evans a number of years now, both as a colleague and as a friend. Does this make this review biased? Quite possibly, but it also means I know the man behind the book. I know his methods and I know what he has achieved.

Barry Evans is one of life's unusual people: someone who is outstandingly successful in his professional life, but who has also managed to achieve balance between his work and his home and family life.

Ever since Barry told me he was writing this book two years ago, I've been looking forward to reading it. I've just finished reading it for the second time. It's been worth the wait.

Quite simply, The Trousers of Reality: Working Life contains nuggets of gold from start to finish. Barry's ideas and his concepts work in real life situations: in business, he creates hugely successful outcomes, achieving results others thought impossible. He does so in a way that brings people and organisations together, enthusing people and empowering them to achieve their very best.

Over the past decade I have run several businesses - computer systems suppliers, manufacturers, retailers and logistics operations. I only wish I had this book available to me when I started.

If you feel you could manage people or situations better than you currently do; if you're striving to achieve your targets and reach your goals, but at the expense of your home life; if you are driving yourself forward as hard as you can but feel that the rest of your company isn't following your leadership as well as it might, then The Trousers of Reality: Working Life is the book for you.

When I was reading the book a word I didn't previously know came to my mind - "buzztext", analogous to "buzzword". Te book does not have too many buzzwords; however, despite that, the text seems to say absolutely nothing of value. Aside from some anecdotes and the perception that author has some views/tastes in common with mine (references to ancient Greeks, Pratchett, Descartes, etc) I wouldn't be able to tell you a single consistent idea or train of thought out of 2 chapters (not counting intro/etc) that I managed. I am not even certain how to approach describing the text - it's unlike any book I read before. This may sound crude and rude, but the books seems to be just an equivalent of "blah blah blah"; at least for the first ~50 pages, after which I gave up.