Rework, what I learned
Jul 5, 2022
I read Rework, and I want to share with you what I learned from this book!
The authors
This book is written by the founders of Basecamp and Hey, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson (aka DHH). DHH is also the creator of the Ruby on Rails.
Disclaimer
The book was published in 2010. Many things have changed since then, so keep that in mind when reading or judging the book.
Fun fact: First iPad release was in 2010!
This is a different kind of business book
There are a lot of books, podcasts, videos of entrepreneurs, and startups where you work 24/7 and raise money from Venture Capital. But this book, tells you to not be a workaholic, sleep well and raise money for your business is plan z.
You must be proud of yourself if you have a small wealth business and not a big startup chasing funding. It's a book for those who want to do something that "makes the world a better place" but they want a balance between work and personal life.
Decision
Don't postpone decisions in the hope that a perfect answer will come to you later. It won't, so you must not stop moving forward.
In remote work, between team chat, emails, and task writing is one of the best skills an employee must-have. So if you are trying to decide among a few people to fill a position, hire the best writer.
Additionally, when you are looking someone for a position, never hire anyone until you've tried to do it yourself first.
Product
The product is the most important thing but the best product isn't the one with the most features. Don’t shy away from the fact that your product or service does less. Sell it as aggressively as competitors sell their extensive feature lists. Also, don't implement everything your client wants. Your product has a philosophy, and it's important to not lose it.
Marketing isn't a separate department, everything your product and company do is marketing. Every time you send an email, every time you answer a phone, every text and image on your website is marketing.
When you declare a Minimum Viable Product, think of a hot dog. The hot dog has bread, sausage, onions, mustard, etc. If I give you bread with onions and mustard you don't have a hot dog, but if I give you bread with sausage you have a not-so-tasty hot dog, but you have a hot dog. MVP is bread with sausage and not bread with onions!
You must declare your MVP correctly because you must not delay your launch. Launch your MVP and then make iterations as you gain feedback from your audience. Take care of the necessities first and worry about the luxuries later. TLDR make a hot dog with bread and sausage first and add the onions and mustard later!
Don't make plans longer than a few pages. Long-term planning is a waste of time because there are too many factors that are completely out of control. As a result, plans let the past define your future and give an illusion that you are in control of things when you aren't.
I hope you enjoyed my silly article! If you prefer podcasts to books, you can listen to this podcast, in which the founders make an episode about every chapter of the book and talk about how they work and run their business.