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ReWork: Change the Way You Work Forever by [Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson]

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Jason Fried

David Heinemeier Hansson

ReWork: Change the Way You Work Forever Kindle Edition

by Jason Fried (Author), David Heinemeier Hansson (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

7,659 ratings

Goodreads Choice Award nominee

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A radical new business book from business trailblazers Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson that offers a reappraisal of business best practice - advocating stripping everything back to bare essentials. With its straightforward language and easy-is-better approach, Rework is the perfect playbook for anyone who's ever dreamed of doing it on their own. It will COMPLETELY change your approach to work.

Every once in a while, a book comes out that changes just about everything. This is one of those books. Ignore it at your peril' -- Seth Godin, New York Times bestselling author
'Inspirational...REWORK is a minimalist manifesto that's profoundly practical. In a world where we all keep getting asked to do more with less, the authors show us how to do less and create more' -- Scott Rosenberg, Co-Founder of Salon.com
'Filled with excellent plain English advice, it's one of the best books out there for business productivity' -- ***** Reader review
'Every word is well-crafted, well-chosen, and easy to both digest and engage with' -- ***** Reader review
'Thought-provoking and truthful' -- ***** Reader review
'A must-read for today's managers' -- ***** Reader review
**********************************************************************************************
From the founders of the trailblazing software company 37signals, here is a different kind of business book - one that explores a new reality.

Today, anyone can be in business. Tools that used to be out of reach are now easily accessible. Technology that cost thousands is now just a few pounds or even free. Stuff that was impossible just a few years ago is now simple.

That means anyone can start a business. And you can do it without working miserable 80-hour weeks or depleting your life savings. You can start it on the side while your day job provides all the cash flow you need. Forget about business plans, meetings, office space - you don't need them. The key is stripping everything back to the bare minimum and basics and then rebuilding; keeping everything simple and under control. You'll learn how to begin, why you need less than you think, when to launch, how to promote and whom (and when) to hire.

Hardcore entrepreneurs, small-business owners, people stuck in day jobs who want to get out, and artists who don't want to starve anymore will all find valuable inspiration and guidance in these pages.

It's time to rework work.

Perfect for readers of Tim Ferriss's The 4 Hour Work Week, Seth Godin's Purple Cow and Chris Anderson's The Long Tail.

Print length

200 pages
Language

English
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Ebury Digital
Publication date

March 18, 2010
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2970 KB
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Popular Highlights in this book

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The easiest, most straightforward way to create a great product or service is to make something you want to use.
Highlighted by 3,262 Kindle readers
The way to find the epicenter is to ask yourself this question: “If I took this away, would what I’m selling still exist?”
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Find a judo solution, one that delivers maximum efficiency with minimum effort.
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Editorial Reviews

From AudioFile

The founders of a cutting-edge software company show why traditional advice for start-up companies is mostly wrong. Rather than becoming bogged down by rigid operational models or marketing protocols, they urge executives to stay flexible in the way they organize work, internal communication, and interactions with the outside world. They say businesses are more effective when their people work naturally and intuitively, rather than blindly following the practices most MBAs recommend. The focus is on common-sense principles like staying intellectually nimble and making a 100% emotional commitment to a worthwhile product. With his natural enthusiasm and broad range of phrasing tools, narrator Mike Chamberlain adds tremendous appeal to this compact lesson on "keeping it simple." His excellent work magnifies the significance of the book's message. T.W. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

37signals is a privately held company founded by Internet trailblazers, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, committed to building the best web-based software products possible with the least number of features necessary. Their products -- Basecamp, Backpack, Highrise, and Campfire -- do less than the competition...intentionally. Since 1999, 37signals has grown into a multi-million dollar company with three million fanatically loyal customers. The company has been profiled in the Guardian, Time, Wired, and Business Week. They are based in Chicago. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

They say you can’t possibly compete with the big boys without a hefty marketing and advertising budget. They say you can’t succeed by building products that do less than your competition’s. They say you can’t make it all up as you go. But that’s exactly what we’ve done.

They say a lot of things. We say they’re wrong. We’ve proved it. And we wrote this book to show you how to prove them wrong too.

Now, let’s get on with it.

The new reality
This is a different kind of business book for different kinds of people—from those who have never dreamed of starting a business to those who already have a successful company up and running.

It’s for hard-core entrepreneurs, the Type A go-getters of the business world. People who feel like they were born to start, lead, and conquer.

It’s also for less intense small-business owners. People who may not be Type A but still have their business at the center of their lives. People who are looking for an edge that’ll help them do more, work smarter, and kick ass.
It’s even for people stuck in day jobs who have always dreamed about doing their own thing. Maybe they like what they do, but they don’t like their boss. Or maybe they’re just bored. They want to do something they love and get paid for it.

Finally, it’s for all those people who’ve never considered going out on their own and starting a business. Maybe they don’t think they’re cut out for it. Maybe they don’t think they have the time, money, or conviction to see it through. Maybe they’re just afraid of putting themselves on the line. Or maybe they just think business is a dirty word. Whatever the reason, this book is for them, too.

There’s a new reality. Today anyone can be in business. Tools that used to be out of reach are now easily accessible. Technology that cost thousands is now just a few bucks or even free. One person can do the job of two or three or, in some cases, an entire department. Stuff that was impossible just a few years ago is simple today.

You don’t have to work miserable 60/80/100-hour weeks to make it work. 10–40 hours a week is plenty. You don’t have to deplete your life savings or take on a boatload of risk. Starting a business on the side while keeping your day job can provide all the cash flow you need. You don’t even need an office. Today you can work from home or collaborate with people you’ve never met who live thousands of miles away.

It’s time to rework work. Let’s get started.

Ignore the real world
“That would never work in the real world.” You hear it all the time when you tell people about a fresh idea.

This real world sounds like an awfully depressing place to live. It’s a place where new ideas, unfamiliar approaches, and foreign concepts always lose. The only things that win are what people already know and do, even if those things are flawed and inefficient.

Scratch the surface and you’ll find these “real world” inhabitants are filled with pessimism and despair. 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. That world may be real for them, but it doesn’t mean you have to live in it.

We know because our company fails the real-world test in all kinds of ways. In the real world, you can’t have more than a dozen employees spread out in eight different cities on two continents. In the real world, you can’t attract millions of customers without any salespeople or advertising. In the real world, you can’t reveal your formula for success to the rest of the world. But we’ve done all those things and prospered.

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.

Learning from mistakes is overrated
In the business world, failure has become an expected rite of passage. You hear all the time how nine out of ten new businesses fail. You hear that your business’s chances are slim to none. You hear that failure builds character. People advise, “Fail early and fail often.”

With so much failure in the air, you can’t help but breathe it in. Don’t inhale. Don’t get fooled by the stats. Other people’s failures are just that: other people’s failures.

If other people can’t market their product, it has nothing to do with you. If other people can’t build a team, it has nothing to do with you. If other people can’t price their services properly, it has nothing to do with you. If other people can’t earn more than they spend?.?.?.?well, you get it.

Another common misconception: You need to learn from your mistakes. What do you really learn from mistakes? You might learn what not to do again, but how valuable is that? You still don’t know what you should do next.

Contrast that with learning from your successes. Success gives you real ammunition. When something succeeds, you know what worked—and you can do it again. And the next time, you’ll probably do it even better.

Failure is not a prerequisite for success. A Harvard Business School study found already-successful entrepreneurs are far more likely to succeed again (the success rate for their future companies is 34 percent). But entrepreneurs whose companies failed the first time had almost the same follow-on success rate as people starting a company for the first time: just 23 percent. People who failed before have the same amount of success as people who have never tried at all.* Success is the experience that actually counts.

That shouldn’t be a surprise, for it’s exactly how nature works. Evolution doesn’t linger on past failures, it’s always building upon what worked. So should you.

Planning is guessing
Unless you’re a fortune-teller, long-term business planning is a fantasy. 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.

Why don’t we just call plans what they really are: guesses. Start referring to your business plans as business guesses, your financial plans as financial guesses, and your strategic plans as strategic guesses. Now you can stop worrying about them as much. They just aren’t worth the stress.

When you turn guesses into plans, you enter a danger zone. Plans let the past drive the future. They put blinders on you. “This is where we’re going because, well, that’s where we said we were going.” And that’s the problem: Plans are inconsistent with improvisation.

And you have to be able to improvise. You have to be able to pick up opportunities that come along. Sometimes you need to say, “We’re going in a new direction because that’s what makes sense today.”

The timing of long-range plans is screwed up too. You have the most information when you’re doing something, not before you’ve done it. Yet when do you write a plan? Usually it’s before you’ve even begun. That’s the worst time to make a big decision.

Now this isn’t to say you shouldn’t think about the future or contemplate how you might attack upcoming obstacles. That’s a worthwhile exercise. Just don’t feel you need to write it down or obsess about it. If you write a big plan, you’ll most likely never look at it anyway. Plans more than a few pages long just wind up as fossils in your file cabinet.

Give up on the guesswork. Decide what you’re going to do this week, not this year. Figure out the next most important thing and do that. Make decisions right before you do something, not far in advance.

It’s OK to wing it. Just get on the plane and go. You can pick up a nicer shirt, shaving cream, and a toothbrush once you get there.

Working without a plan may seem scary. But blindly following a plan that has no relationship with reality is even scarier.

Why grow?
People ask, “How big is your company?” It’s small talk, but they’re not looking for a small answer. The bigger the number, the more impressive, professional, and powerful you sound. “Wow, nice!” they’ll say if you have a hundred-plus employees. If you’re small, you’ll get an “Oh?.?.?.?that’s nice.” The former is meant as a compliment; the latter is said just to be polite.

Why is that? What is it about growth and business? Why is expansion always the goal? What’s the attraction of big besides ego? (You’ll need a better answer than “economies of scale.”) What’s wrong with finding the right size and staying there?

Do we look at Harvard or Oxford and say, “If they’d only expand and branch out and hire thousands more professors and go global and open other campuses all over the world?.?.?.?then they’d be great schools.” Of course not. That’s not how we measure the value of these institutions. So why is it the way we measure businesses?

Maybe the right size for your company is five people. Maybe it’s forty. Maybe it’s two hundred. Or maybe it’s just you and a laptop. Don’t make assumptions about how big you should be ahead of time. Grow slow and see what feels right—premature hiring is the death of many companies. And avoid huge growth spurts too—they can cause you to skip right over your appropriate size.

Small is not just a stepping-stone. Small is a great destination in itself.

Have you ever noticed that while small businesses wish they were bigger, big businesses dream about being more agile and flexible? And remember, once you get big, it’s really hard to shrink without firing people, damaging morale, and changing the entire way you do business.

Ramping up doesn’t have to be your goal. And we’re not talking just about the number of employees you have either. It’s also true for expenses, rent, IT infrastructure, furniture, etc. These things don’t just happen to you. You decide whether or not to take them on. And if you do take them on, you’ll be taking on new headaches, too. Lock in lots of expenses and you force yourself into building a complex businesss—one that’s a lot more difficult and stressful to run.

Don’t be insecure about aiming to be a small business. Anyone who runs a business that’s sustainable and profitable, whether it’s big or small, should be proud.

Workaholism
Our culture celebrates the idea of the workaholic. We hear about people burning the midnight oil. They pull all-nighters and sleep at the office. It’s considered a badge of honor to kill yourself over a project. No amount of work is too much work.

Not only is this workaholism unnecessary, it’s stupid. Working more doesn’t mean you care more or get more done. It just means you work more.

Workaholics wind up creating more problems than they solve. First off, working like that just isn’t sustainable over time. When the burnout crash comes—and it will—it’ll hit that much harder.

Workaholics miss the point, too. They try to fix problems by throwing sheer hours at them. They try to make up for intellectual laziness with brute force. This results in inelegant solutions.

They even create crises. They don’t look for ways to be more efficient because they actually like working overtime. They enjoy feeling like heroes. They create problems (often unwittingly) just so they can get off on working more.

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.

If all you do is work, you’re unlikely to have sound judgments. Your values and decision making wind up skewed. You stop being able to decide what’s worth extra effort and what’s not. And you wind up just plain tired. No one makes sharp decisions when tired.

In the end, workaholics don’t actually accomplish more than nonworkaholics. They may claim to be perfectionists, but that just means they’re wasting time fixating on inconsequential details instead of moving on to the next task.
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.

Enough with “entrepreneurs”
Let’s retire the term entrepreneur. It’s outdated and loaded with baggage. It smells like a members-only club. Everyone should be encouraged to start his own business, not just some rare breed that self-identifies as entrepreneurs.

There’s a new group of people out there starting businesses. They’re turning profits yet never think of themselves as entrepreneurs. A lot of them don’t even think of themselves as business owners. They are just doing what they love on their own terms and getting paid for it.

So let’s replace the fancy-sounding word with something a bit more down-to-earth. Instead of entrepreneurs, let’s just call them starters. Anyone who creates a new business is a starter. 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.

Make a dent in the universe
To do great work, you need to feel that you’re making a difference. That you’re putting a meaningful dent in the universe. That you’re part of something important.

This doesn’t mean you need to find the cure for cancer. It’s just that your efforts need to feel valuable. 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.

You should feel an urgency about this too. You don’t have forever. This is your life’s work. Do you want to build just another me-too product or do you want to shake things up? What you do is your legacy. Don’t sit around and wait for someone else to make the change you want to see. And don’t think it takes a huge team to make that difference either.

Look at Craigslist, which demolished the traditional classified-ad business. With just a few dozen employees, the company generates tens of millions in revenue, has one of the most popular sites on the Internet, and disrupted the entire newspaper business.

The Drudge Report, run by Matt Drudge, is just one simple page on the Web run by one guy. Yet it’s had a huge impact on the news industry—television producers, radio talk show hosts and newspaper reporters routinely view it as the go-to place for new stories.*

If you’re going to do something, do something that matters. These little guys came out of nowhere and destroyed old models that had been around for decades. You can do the same in your industry.

Scratch your own itch
The easiest, most straightforward way to create a great product or service is to make something you want to use. That lets you design what you know—and you’ll figure out immediately whether or not what you’re making is any good. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Amazon.com Review

Amazon Exclusive: Seth Godin Reviews Rework

Seth Godin is the author of Linchpin, Tribes, The Dip, Purple Cow, All Marketers Are Liars, and Permission Marketing, as well as other international bestsellers. He is consistently one of the 25 most widely read bloggers in the English language. Read his exclusive Amazon guest review of Rework:

This book will make you uncomfortable.

Depending on what you do all day, it might make you extremely uncomfortable.

That's a very good thing, because you deserve it. We all do.

Jason and David have broken all the rules and won. Again and again they've demonstrated that the regular way isn't necessarily the right way. They just don't say it, they do it. And they do it better than just about anyone has any right to expect.

This book is short, fast, sharp and ready to make a difference. It takes no prisoners, spares no quarter, and gives you no place to hide, all at the same time.

There, my review is almost as long as the first chapter of the book. I can't imagine what possible excuse you can dream up for not buying this book for every single person you work with, right now.

Stop reading the review. Buy the book.--Seth Godin

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Review

"Jason Fried and David Hansson follow their own advice in REWORK, laying bare the surprising philosophies at the core of 37signals' success and inspiring us to put them into practice. There's no jargon or filler here just hundreds of brilliantly simple rules for success. Part entrepreneurial handbook for the twenty-first century, part manifesto for anyone wondering how work really works in the modern age, REWORK is required reading for anyone tired of business platitudes."
--Chris Anderson, New York Times bestselling author of THE LONG TAIL and FREE

"House-husband, housewife, Fortune 500 CEO, cab driver, restaurateur, venture capitalist -- this is 'the book for you,' a book of true wisdom, business wisdom, life wisdom. The clarity, even genius, of this book actually brought me to near-tears on several occasions. Just bloody brilliant, that's what!"
--Tom Peters, New York Times bestselling author of IN SEARCH OF EXCELLENCE, THRIVING ON CHAOS and LEADERSHIP

"If given a choice between investing in someone who has read REWORK or has an MBA, I'm investing in REWORK every time. This is a must read for every entrepreneur."
--Mark Cuban, co-founder of HDNet and Broadcast.com and owner of the Dallas Mavericks

"Inspirational...REWORK is a minimalist manifesto that's profoundly practical. In a world where we all keep getting asked to do more with less, the authors show us how to do less and create more."
--Scott Rosenberg, Co-Founder of Salon.com and author of DREAMING IN CODE and SAY EVERYTHING

"The brilliance of REWORK is that it inspires you to rethink everything you thought you knew about strategy, customers, and getting things done. Read this provocative and instructive book—and then get busy reimagining what it means to lead, compete, and succeed."
--William C. Taylor, Founding Editor of Fast Company and coauthor of MAVERICKS AT WORK

"...a Webby manifesto for post-recession success."--Newsweek

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Review

"Every once in a while, a book comes out that changes just about everything. This is one of those books. Ignore it at your peril" -- Seth Godin, New York Times bestselling author "37signals...doesn't just have customers, it has raving fans, and its leaders are web celebrities" * Guardian * "There's no jargon or filler here just hundreds of brilliantly simple rules for success" -- Chris Anderson, bestselling author of The Long Tail "Inspirational...REWORK is a minimalist manifesto that's profoundly practical. In a world where we all keep getting asked to do more with less, the authors show us how to do less and create more" -- Scott Rosenberg, Co-Founder of Salon.com "Great if you're at a fledgling stage of business. It's a little controversial... but I find it brilliant just the same. A quick read too." -- Sophie Cornish * Stylist * --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B003ELY7PG
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ebury Digital (March 18, 2010)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 18, 2010
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2970 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 200 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #365,113 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #246 in Workplace Behavior
- #276 in Time Management in Business
- #532 in Time Management (Books)

Customer Reviews:
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Jason Fried
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Jason Fried is the co-founder and President of 37signals, a privately-held Chicago-based company committed to building the best web-based tools possible with the least number of features necessary.
37signals' products include Basecamp, Highrise, Backpack, Campfire, Ta-da List, and Writeboard. 37signals also developed and open-sourced the Ruby on Rails programming framework. 37signals' products do less than the competition -- intentionally.
37signals weblog, Signal vs. Noise, is read by over 100,000 people every day.
Jason believes there's real value and beauty in the basics. Elegance, respect for people's desire to simply get stuff done, and honest ease of use are the hallmarks of 37signals products.
See more on the author's page
David Heinemeier Hansson
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David Heinemeier Hansson is the cofounder of Basecamp and NYT bestselling coauthor of REWORK and REMOTE. He's also the creator of the software toolkit Ruby on Rails, which has been used to launch and power Twitter, Shopify, GitHub, Airbnb, Square, and over a million other web applications. Originally from Denmark, he moved to Chicago in 2005, and now lives between the US and Spain with his wife and two sons. In his spare time, he enjoys 200-mph race cars in international competition, taking cliche pictures of sunsets and kids, and ranting far too much on Twitter.
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Customer reviews

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7,659 global ratings

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3 star		7%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Philip Arthur Moore

Signal vs. Noise in Book Form

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 12, 2010

Verified Purchase

One of my biggest gripes about the early reviews to come out about Rework is that they had no substance. Words like "inspirational", "brilliant", and "rethink" generally trigger my BS alarm, so I really didn't know what to expect with Rework. I've been reading Signal vs. Noise, the design and usability blog by 37signals, for a few years now, and I've had plenty of time to become acquainted with Jason and David's style. That I even refer to them by their first names should clue you in to their style. They come across in writing as they do in their live webcasts and presentations: familiar. Point is, I've been irked by the longest by those vapid early reviews to come out. They meant nothing to me. Hopefully you'll find this review more much helpful for determining whether or not Rework is worth your time.

TL;DR Version: Buy the book if you have no idea what 37signals stands for. If you do, expect SvN on paper.

Long Version: If you've never heard of 37signals or read Signal vs. Noise and you're a business owner or someone who needs to buy a book for an "entrepreneur" (Jason and David prefer the term "starter"), then this is a pretty good book to purchase. It's 273 pages, but most of that is filled with white space and somewhat relevant artwork (almost too much artwork, really), so it's an easy read. From start to finish I spent just over a few hours reading Rework, and I'm no speed reader by any stretch of the imagination. Don't expect to be blown away by any revolutionary ideas, either. One of the early reviews to come out said, "The clarity, even genius, of this book actually brought me to near-tears on several occasions" (Tom Peters, New York Times bestselling author). I don't want to bad mouth the guy, because I don't know him, but that's some wicked crazy rad hyperbole. This is a simple book that's just a by-product of the blog. Nothing more, nothing less.

If you are someone who is very familiar with 37signals and has spent a considerable amount of time reading the blog, then don't feel like you need to pick up this book immediately. Don't get me wrong, $12 (or however much it costs when you buy Rework) is entirely worth it, if even just to have some good night time reading material. But if you think that Rework will bring you any additional insight into 37signals beyond what is available online, then you are thinking incorrectly. Rework felt like a package of SvN blog posts from 2007 to 2009. I'll explain why in a bit.

The Major Takeaways:

If you're strapped for cash and still want to take away lessons from this book, just read the table of contents and then cross-reference those words with the 37signals blog. Jason and David do a heck of a job being straightforward about what they are writing about. For example, "Ignore the real world" (page 13) can be found on their website. In fact, a whole bunch of their content from Rework can be found on their website. To wit:

"Learning from mistakes is overrated" (Rework, page 16): "Learning from failure is overrated" (Feb. 3rd, 2009)(SvN)
"Planning is Guessing" (Rework, page 19): "The Planning Falacy" (Jun. 12th, 2009) (SvN)
"Workaholism" (Rework, page 25): "Fire the workaholics" (Mar. 7th, 2008) (SvN)
"Enough with 'Entrepreneurs'" (Rework, page 28): "The word entrepreneur and its baggage" (Apr. 22nd, 2009) (SvN)
"Scratch your own itch" (Rework, page 34): "What's your problem?" (Getting Real)
"No time is no excuse" (Rework, page 40): "There's always time to launch your dream" (Mar. 10, 2009) (SvN)
"Outside Money is Plan Z" (Rework, page 50): "Fund yourself" (Getting Real)

And that's just the first 50 pages! You see where I'm going with this. If you are an avid reader of 37signals and have kept up with them for 6-12 months, then most of what you read in Rework will simply be a regurgitation of what's already been written online. That's why the early reviews really irked me. Is this book insightful? Clearly. Is it legendary or tear-worthy? Give me a break! The grand language is really making me distrust books, and if I didn't already know the great work that 37signals does or if I were not already a long time customer with 37signals, I wouldn't have bought this book. The flowery language of the early reviews just made me expect the world from Rework, and all I really got was the hardcover form of Signal v. Noise, with better edits and word choice.

I wouldn't write this long, rambling review if I wasn't passionate about the line of work that 37signals is in. I owe much of my organization and peace of mind to 37signals products, so count me as one of the 37signals "audience" members. I think Rework is an exceptional book in that it serves as a reminder of many of the lessons and "recipes" that Jason and David have given us through the years. It is definitely worth the money if you have not already internalized much of the lessons contained in the Rework table of contents. If you have, and you are an avid fan of Jason and David already, then there's really no need to read Rework unless you have some extra time on your hands.

And to Jason and David, if either of you actually read this review, then I hope in your next book you'll ditch the early BS reviews. That's my main gripe. If you want to recycle SvN from 2009-2011 and turn it into a book called ENHANCE! in 2012, that's fine by me. I'll be the first one in line to read it; but know that I, and many other readers, will expect to see the same stuff that we've already read on the blog. I love the work you two do; I mean I REALLY love the work that you two do. But come on. Don't set me up for the stars and then throw glitter in my face.

All in all I give Rework a 7/10. It's worth a read if you have no clue what 37signals stands for. Even if you do, buy the book for a friend or out-of-touch boss.

1,147 people found this helpful

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K.Matrix

Great Nuggets of Business Wisdom

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 22, 2022

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I enjoyed reading this book. There was nothing pretentious about the authors or style of writing. It was more like reading a bunch of well thought out nuggets of wisdom that are applicable to any type of business. There is no overarching narrative or "how-to" manual that comprehensively covers everything you need to be successful in business, but the information and learnings within these pages are invaluable.

For those who are looking for better business strategies or new ways of looking at and implementing things, I would recommend this book. However, if you are looking for a well-structured comprehensive manual, you may want to look at some other books.

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Davidsgirl

A Wonderful Kick in the Head.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 6, 2018

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I have never read a book like this in my life. I loved it. But it was not what I expected. This is a book of off-grid business principles and strategy -- not actionable step-by-step instructions. The tone, voice, and style are atypical for a professional business book, which makes it unique. I believe this is the author's point well-made. It's easy reading, personal, and very provocative.

My one complaint is that there is not always justification for their claims. There is a lot of straight talk, which for me, were points well-taken. I get it. Some have said the book sounds arrogant. Well, okay. You're entitled to that opinion. But honestly, I didn't take it that way at all. I felt they were passionate about the points they made. It had a very forward tone. One thing I will mention is that perhaps some of their points needed more "proof". But the style was refreshing for me, personally. I enjoyed reading it. As a business book, it breaks all the rules. And that is precisely the point.

If you're looking for a book giving you step-by-step instructions on how to build a business -- this is not the book for you. Many who expected this were disappointed. This is not a traditional book by any standard. It's not a book that provides "how-to's". It's a book of principles. The key for the reader is being able to take their principles, evaluate them, and mold it to your individual business model with a strategy that fits. If you can't do that -- you're going to hate this book. It's not going to tell you what to do -- it's giving you fundamental principles to apply. Not all of these principles will work for every business. It would be foolish to think they would. A lot of successful companies don't follow these principles at all. Time-honored truth reveals there's more than one way to do things, and every business is different. But what I appreciate is that 37Signals found their niche in the business world, realized they had achieved something great, had something different and unique to offer -- and shared it with the business world in a style all their own. It's brave. It's bold. It's even brash, perhaps. But this book is not gospel. So don't take it as such. For me, there are pearls of wisdom here that cannot be ignored. And some of their advice is so risky, it needs to be evaluated carefully if embarked upon and applied. But if it worked for them -- in their own right, they can claim it and share it. And that's precisely the message of this book.

The book is persuasive, but don't read it blindly. Carefully consider their points and consider the possibility of applying them successfully.

In closing, do yourself a favor -- get the book. It really is worth it. But have the proper expectations.

My advice would be this: Don't start a business or organization of any kind until you have read this. Every CEO needs to read this. Every employee needs to read this. Every entrepreneur needs to read this. Do you have a job? You need to read this. Do you work? You need to read this. A first-grader could read this. Super easy. Super fast. Super information. I believe everyone needs to read this. Yes, everyone. And once you do, I bet you'll read it again.

Five stars. Well-earned.

86 people found this helpful

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Adriean Lemoine

Should Be Reworked Into Pamphlet Form

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 14, 2022

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I appreciate the writers' abilities to think outside of the box and fight against the norm with starting a business. But the book doesn't feel to have much depth and I felt that if you only read the headings, it basically told you what the rest said. This information could have easily been fit into a pamphlet and been just as useful. Personally, I wouldn't recommend buying it unless there's a 50% off deal.

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Peter - The Reading Desk

Look at Everything and Reassess

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on February 9, 2018

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Quite often a dilemma in business is whether to follow what we consider tried and tested thinking and methods or do you do it your own way. Rework resets your traditional thinking and asks key questions about your business including if you need an office. Quite rightly he proposes that there is NO value in meetings and business plans and we consume large amounts of irrecoverable time dealing with them.

The lifeblood of the book is, make it easy, make it fun and make money. Cut the ego and furnishings out of your business and deal with harsh reality. Hansson and Fried obviously hate waste including words, so the style of the book is short and snappy with real gems of advice on every page. They are very generous with their advice which makes them worth listening to. My only contention is the time we spend on our businesses. I absolutely believe if we’re unproductive, working long hours, hating life, and have no time for socialising or family, then that’s a major problem. But, I love my business and while I don’t need to do it for more than 8 hours per day, I love to do it for more than 8 hours per day. I’m probably more in the mould of Gary V. Reminds me of the quote “I’ll do today what you won’t, so I can do tomorrow what you can’t.”

22 people found this helpful

GrowthNomad,com

Filled with excellent plain english advice

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on October 6, 2017

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Read this book cover-to-cover in 53 minutes.
Filled with excellent plain english advice, it's one of the best books out there for business productivity.
Not big on references, but the authors are credible because they built 37Signals, which created Basecamp and Ruby-on-Rails.
A damning critique of old school business types who favour endless meetings, reports, hierarchies and strategic plans.
If you like this also read: 'The 4 Hour Work Week' and 'Steal Like An Artist' - equally inspired.

23 people found this helpful

Alexander Cardoza

Platitudes and clichés

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 21, 2021

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A pointless book that tells you very little. While the authors try to sound like the anti Silicon Valley types they are the archetypal ones. The book is filled with useless advice that serve no other purpose than to describe a single dimension of thought that is unlikely to be applicable to any situation other than their own. The only way you would learn anything from it is if you knew nothing at all to begin with. I echo the comments that were given by another reader, intellectually lightweight. A simple book for the simple minded.

4 people found this helpful

Charan

Rework - What nobody tells you at work!

Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on April 28, 2021

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How it was delivered?

Quick delivery as promised. The book had a little smudge on the cover. But that's okay. It's pandemic and I don't want to be hard on anyone. The team can improve the transportation a little. But other than that, the book's condition had no compromise.

How's the book?

One of the very few books that made me so reluctant to put it down. This is an outcome of the authors who looked at their experiences from a unique angle for a really long time and compiled it as a book. Say, if you can grasp a little or take only one chapter with you after reading this book, I'm pretty much sure this will save your time and efforts someday.

What a cutthroat way to grow as a professional if you actually follow all the chapters that talk about Productivity and Hiring. When coming across non-fictions like these you're really motivated to inculcate the things into your daily life and improve. Now, if I go to work the next morning, I'll slightly look at it differently. How beautiful isn't it? This book will bring that change in you.

Content is crisp, sharp, and making sense page after page. A remarkable book that leaves me saying "Must Read!"

19 people found this helpful

Ksisa

Inspirational word catalogue

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 6, 2023

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This will not change the way you work. The format is simple - a page with a pretty picture and a 1-2 page section on some basic life advice. Due to this it never goes into depth on any of this advice. It is basically a 300 page book, that could be 150 if you remove images, 100 if you set the margin to small instead of extra large filled with essentially inspirational quotes to make you feel good. Would not recommend.

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