Book Review: ReWork: Change the Way You Work Forever
Rework is by 37signals who are the developers of collaboration software Basecamp and is about how they approach their work and run their company.
I came across the book are looking at ROWE (Results Only Work Environment) and reading ‘Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It’ and was looking for more resources on alternative working conditions.
Despite being 288 pages long, I managed to finish the book over a couple of evenings as it was compelling and refreshing to read about a successful company that operates in an employee centred way rather then shareholder orientated which is what I experienced throughout my professional life.
The book is ultimately a set of guidelines that they have operated under and why the current corporate world model of working is outdated. One of my favourite chapters was ‘Planning is guessing’ as it rang true to how I felt about long term planning.
It is extremely difficult to plan that far ahead accurately yet managers will always try and set a specific date down in stone and be surprised when we don’t make it.
The book is full of concise anecdotes like these (including ‘Start at the epicentre’, ‘Send people home at 5’ and ‘Scratch your won itch’) and while it might not be possible to convince the company you work at to change, there are certainly some sections that you can apply to your own personal work ethic.
ReWork: Change the Way You Work Forever by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
