Madeline
All I could think through Rework is “Yes” and “Yes!” I have worked in two startup environments… ish. This book is really about starting something new. Being the co-founder. Driving the direction of the company, setting the culture, and making difficult decisions. None of which I’ve ever been in the driver’s seat where I would need to make any of these decisions. That being said, I’ve been at small enough organizations where I wish someone who was in the driver’s seat had read this book and decided to implement these tactics. Reading Rework has made me realize I needed to read more business books, like this one, Grit, and Tiny Habits.
The book is broken down into about 50 tiny little rules and ideas. I can’t focus on all of them so here are a few of my favorite.
Meetings Are Toxic
This is not the first time I’ve heard this. But the first time I had, I started paying attention to my meetings. Once attention is paid, it is quite obvious how dumb meetings are. A lot of ideas might come out of meetings, but I noticed a lot of times, for me anyways, only a small portion of it sticks. After reading Rework, I started thinking more about this.
A lot of times the topics discussed are abstract and are not concrete. They are ideas and decisions that don’t really mean much. Whoever is delegated any action item that comes out of the meeting might interpret something totally different from the person who came up with the idea. I know this has happened to me.
In addition, for an hour long meeting with ten people, you are not wasting one hour, you are wasting ten or more hours when you take into account getting to and from meetings and changing thoughts. Why do people schedule and fill hour long meetings for something that should take 6 minutes to cover anyways?
Workaholism
Again, not something I got from Rework but something that drives me so nuts, I had to include it. When in a social, when you ask how someone is, the polite (and correct) answer is “fine.” When at work, when you ask how someone is, the polite (and correct) answer is “busy.”
Our work culture encourages having too much to do. It encourages workaholism and it encourages people to have no other life but work. What drives me even more nuts is when a boss or a company claims to have a great work/ life balance but then employees are made to feel bad if they don’t work more than 40 hours a week.
Launch Now
What I have learned in my years of tech is that nothing will ever be perfect. One of the biggest mistakes I have seen is delaying a project because it’s not perfect. This is a mistake for two reasons. If you don’t launch the project, your work is for nothing. And if you keep working on a final project, receiving feedback becomes more challenging. Both emotionally and physically.
Who Cares What They Are Doing
If it’s not about copying the competition, then who cares what they are doing. Do what you think is best and do that thing well. By doing so, you will come up with not only a naturally good product but a uniquely good product. This alone is almost enough to have a successful product. Well, there is more too it, but it’s a damn good start!
Marketing is Not a Department
I really liked this one. The main idea that Rework expresses around this principal is that everyone in the company and everything revolving around the company should be marketing. Just because a person works behind the customer service counter does not mean they are not in marketing.
Resumes Are Ridiculous
Most job postings require X amount of years and a resume is there to prove, yes, this applicant meets that X amount of years requirement. But there is nothing that is really said about that X amount of years. There is little to say whether that X amount of years aligns with the need for the job.
The writers say that a cover letter says more about the applicant than a resume ever can. By reading the first paragraph of the cover letter, the hirer has a good sense of the person, if they are a good fit and if they fit into the next topic I want to talk about.
Hire Great Writers
I don’t know if I am a great writer. One of the reasons I wanted to start this blog is that I know that writing is important and the only way to get better is to do it more. Other than the diplomatic emails I write every day, I don’t get much of a chance to write in the creative sense, and this blog give me that opportunity. That being said, this post is not about me, it’s about Rework.
The idea behind this principal is that, regardless what a person is hired for, if they can write, it will pay off in the long run. The idea is that good writing is not just about writing well but also thinking well. And since people are writing more than in the recent past or possibly ever before, think email and text message, writing is more important now than ever.
How to Say Your Sorry
Having managed multiple Customer Success departments and work directly with the Product for over seven years of my life, I have had to apologize to a lot of customers for a lot of different reasons. I have also learned, there is a technique to it.
Apologizing for inconvenience is never a heartfelt apology. Apologize not only have to come with words but actions as well. Fixing problems and fixing them quickly is the best apology.
