Rework, by 37signals.
Posted by thatsinthebook on 24th May 2010
37signals, creator of online tools such as Basecamp and Highrise (both used by pebble.it), is one of pebble.it’s long term sources of inspiration. Their ethos towards business and obvious success is compelling to say the least. Their new book, Rework, gives a fantastic look at their thoughts on business and why going against convention may be the way to go. It also serves as some great inspiration for people to get off their asses and make a change.
The main themes of the book are very refreshing and make complete sense - especially if there has always been “something” about conventional business that didn’t seem quite right to you. We have been implementing a set of these themes (listed below) and over the coming weeks will be writing a few more posts to share our experiences of them. In terms of progress, so far so good!
- Small Giants - happiness and profit before growth.
- Everything is Marketing - project your brand and culture with everything that you do.
- Say No! - take on the right business, not all business, and stick to what you enjoy and are good at.
- Have an Enemy - in our case, ‘big’ IT companies & PCs (oh, and Blackberries!).
- Leave the Competition - obsession with competitors can stifle your own success.
- Share - we solve and create - bearing all can only serve to help get the word out that your are awesome.
- Build an Audience - who enjoys cold selling anyway?!
One criticism is that Rework does, especially in the middle, mildly comes across as preaching only what has specifically worked for 37signals as a software product provider. Also, towards the end of the book, I did start to recall sections from their last book, “Getting Real”, (although this is hardly surprising).
Overall Rework is an inspirational book for those looking at starting out or small businesses that need some clarity and focus in their operations. Rework could also be a great tool for bigger businesses to tone down some of their more archaic corporate ways and maybe bring in some efficiencies.
Worth a read: Amazon.
Tags:
